Tell Me This is a Dream
by RGaffney
Summary: Natalina has a big, powerful secret. Her mom placed a chip inside of her that tells someone how to rule the world. The Axis and Allies are after Natalina big time, but instead of fighting her, decide to win her heart their own way. Lots of OC pairing.
1. Chapter 1

_*****New fanfic! :^) I just didn't feel like I had "Where For Art Thou, Thy Original Cast?" in my heart anymore. I'll keep the chapters that I have up, but I found this story and I HAD to write it. Request for all the people who read this and like it at the end if this chapter. This was written for the fangirls, by a fangirl.*** **_

The first thing I did was get out of the way. It was a nice summer night, but my night was anything but nice. I peeled off my heels while trying to find out where I went wrong on the date. Well, my date did try to feel me up under the dinner table, right? I had a right to stab him in the hand with a knife, right? Yeah, I went wrong somewhere.

I'm 19. My name is Natalina. It doesn't mean anything cool, like strong or pretty. It means birthday. I know, lame. If it were up to my older brother, my name would mean something like: "little hellion", "can't close her mouth", "better at fighting" or "always having mood swings". I do tend to have mood swings, but I have a good reason!

My mom was a really good historical professor. I remember always going around the world with her to her lectures. She came up with a wonderful theory about great empires. Not just what made them great or why they fell, but how to make the world's strongest empire. She looked at all the great nations and empires, found their strong points and weak points. She was able to give step-by-step instructions on how to rule the world.

Now, my mom never wanted to rule the world or anything. She was a really kind woman who loved history. She did that project for fun. But then people started asking her about it. They became too curious. She stopped giving lectures on it because powerful people came to the lectures taking notes of her theory.

Then one day she pulled my brother and me aside when I was really young and told us: "I'm going to die because I quit the lectures on my empire theory."

The next week the police were looking for her because she went missing. They never found her. Except for a lock of her hair and a piece of lead from something. The piece was caught in the hair. The police said she might have been clubbed to death and her body was dumped somewhere.

My brother came to me and gave me a letter. It was from my mom before she died. He told me that she wrote a lot of letters like this and gave it to my brother. Each letter was in a separate envelop with "Natalina 8th birthday letter" or "Natalina 16th birthday letter". My mom told my brother to give me the letters on my birthday. He couldn't look at the letters and I couldn't read them early. I soon found out why.

My mom had put her theory inside me. Literally. She took the data and put it on a chip. One night, she sedated me and took me to a special hospital and had the chip put in me. I found this out on my 8th birthday. I found out she killed anyone who was involved in the operation on my 14th birthday. Yeah, she's kickass, isn't she?

But the whole thing why she did this was because I couldn't be tracked by anyone. I couldn't tell anyone about this chip. My mom was killed over it. I didn't want to be killed as well. Not even my own brother knows about this. I tell him that mom put pictures of when I was little in the envelope with a letter telling me how much she loved me. I raided the family albums for the pictures, too. My brother always loved my father more and I always loved mom more. I know, not a balanced family, but no one got hurt over it. My brother didn't care about the letters if I was the favorite of mom. That's the way he is.

So I'm stuck with a chip about controlling the world inside of me, in a park, after one of my many dates failed…again. Hey, I've got a big secret! It's ok to have mood swings and…stab…people…with dinner utensils…right?

I sat on the edge of the park fountain and sighed. I hated myself. Couldn't find love, couldn't find the truth, couldn't find myself. Couldn't find my purse. Damn, I left it in the restaurant. Well, I'm not going back there. Nope. No. Uh-uh.

Then I heard something in the bushes. I jumped a mile. Well, big secret, right? I get a right to jump a mile. I tried to look over the bushes, but I couldn't see what it was. It didn't move again. Was I hearing things? I moved closer to the bush.

The first thing that happened was a lead pipe to the face. I felt my head ring as I stumbled back. The biggest man alive stepped out from the park hedges and smiled at me. I opened my mouth like a fish.

"You give me chip, da?" The man asked. He had a strange accent, but I heard "chip". It was enough for me.

I ran faster than a rabbit. The man grabbed my arm. I used his weight to swing around him and dodge past the fountain. The man cleared the little angel statue on the top of the fountain with that lead pipe. Water went everywhere.

There was a little bridge that went into the park from the little area I was in. I ran for it. I could find another exit and get the hell out of there. Just as I ran onto the bridge, I heard a horn beep. I turned to see a motorcycle driving towards me. I didn't have time to react. Someone pulled me onto the back. I grabbed at the leather bomber jacket the person was wearing. He turned his head and smiled at me.

"How ya doin'? He asked, laughing. I was about to say something, but then I noticed we were heading deeper into the park instead of out of it.

"Wait, I-" I started. But I didn't have time to talk to him.

Someone pulled me off the motorcycle. I went crashing to the ground. The person pulled me to my feet. He was dressed in a green military suit and had a sword in one hand. He pulled me away from the path in the park and into the woods. He used the sword to cut down the park foliage. I tried to run away, but he had a good grip on my arm.

Then, someone came down from the trees and started attacking the man. This other man was a kung-fu person, I could tell. My first thought was "My God I'm being attacked by Jackie Chan!" Well, my real first thought was: "Beeping beeping beep beep bleep!"

The man who had my arm dropped it so he could fight this new person. I ran past both of them. I found a small trail. It was enough to find a way out. I didn't see anyone until a man in a while uniform stepped out from the woods. I screamed and dodged him. I didn't even turn around to see him. I just ran. I didn't see the bigger man grab me and put my arms behind my back.

This new man was huge. He was wearing a black wife-beater and green pants. I struggled in his grasp, but he was way too strong for me. I kicked him where it counted. He didn't react like my brother of the other boys I've beaten to a pulp. He just winced and loosened his grip on me. It was enough for me to get away from him and keep running.

When the trees cleared, I saw a deep gorge. It was about 14 feet deep and went down at a slope to a river. There was a bridge with a sign by it. The sign read: "South Exit this way". I ran for the bridge, but then the motorcycle man pulled up to the bridge. He didn't cross it (I think his bike was too heavy for it), but he waved at me to come to him. My brain faltered. I turned around to see if anyone was there. Of course, they were all following me. Why not.

I turned to the bridge again when I found out I missed it. I turned to my right to watch the bridge flash before my eyes. I was literally 4 feet away from it, but I fell into the small canyon. I fell down the dirt slope and into the river. My vision blurred and the only way I could find 'up' was when I grabbed a rock and pulled myself onto it. I opened my eyes and gasped for air. I looked around. I was like a wet cat on the rock.

The first person to jump in was the motorcycle man, followed by everyone else. Except the man in the green military suit. He stayed on land. I knew I needed to get out of there, so I dove under the water. I swam underneath the people swimming after me and followed the current away from them.

I pulled onto land far enough away so they were only little dots in the distance. I quickly pulled myself up and tried to get out of the sloping bank of the river. I finally got out. Then I felt my head. Red stained my fingers. Great. Blood.

I started running for the woods. I needed to lose their trail. Thankfully, they were all still looking for me in the water. I kept running until I started to feel dizzy. It was probably my head. I started to slow down. I couldn't see very well. I stumbled around for a while.

Then, like a complete klutz, I tripped over something. Probably a rock or stick. I laid on the ground, dizzy and almost ready to pass out. I heard something and I looked up. Two boots came into my blurry field of vision.

"Just let me die quick." I told this person. Then I lost consciousness.

_*****I know, not a lot of romance in this one, but a lot in the next (evil grin). Well, I've got a request for all the people who like this story. Just like I said in the sum, the Axis and Allies try to win her heart after Feliciano sees Natalina and Arthur– well, you'll get to that part later. :^) Anyways, I want all the fangirls to describe the "perfect way" your dream Hetalia guy would win your heart! Would it be a dinner date? A movie at home? Or would you guys go straight for kissing? I've already got plans for England, Italy and America, but I need help with the rest (excluding Russia, cause I have other plans for him) . Thanks!*****_


	2. Chapter 2

_*****Second Chapter! Featuring Arthur Kirkland. :^) **_

_**Warnings (it's about time I put these up): Steaminess (blush) and some language**_

_**I don't own Hetalia. But I'll ask Santa. **_

_**This is for all the England fangirls!*****_

I woke up in a strange room. The walls were a dark cream color. The bed and dresser were dark wood. I sat up. I didn't recognize anything. I rubbed my eyes and found my arm was wrapped up. I felt my head. My head was also wrapped up.

I turned and looked at a picture on the wall.

Shit.  
>It was that man in the green suit, pictured with a few other people. My stomach dropped. No. It couldn't be. I started to panic. I was in his house! Why? Where was I? I needed to get out. Now.<p>

My mind has two natural modes. Fighting lion where nothing can stand in my way and scared rabbit, where I know when I need to run. I was in rabbit mode.

I took off the bed sheets and threw open the window. I looked out. A fence surrounded the area. I knew I needed to find the gate to this fence to get out. I tied the sheets from my bed together and flung the makeshift rope out the window. I'm good at climbing, so I found no problem getting down. By halfway to the ground, a gardener with clippers in his hands came around the corner of the house. He saw me and I saw him.

A maid came to the window. I looked up at her and she looked down at me. I let go of the rope and let myself fall. I think I bruised a rib when I hit the ground, but I got up and ran. The maid left the window yelling: "Mr. Kirkland! Mr. Kirkland!"

The gardener ran after me. He must have been in really bad shape, because even in my state, I outran him. I found out the house had two wings on it. I rounded the right wing and saw the gate at the front of the house. Is was a big iron gate. Gardeners and maids were working on the hedges and rose brushes around the front of the house and near the gate.

The gardener who was after me yelled for everyone to: "Stop that runaway bitch before she escapes". Everyone dropped what they were doing and ran after me.

I made a running start and jumped on the gate. I started scaling the gate. I was too high up for anyone to pull me down. Some people tried to go up after me, but they couldn't climb it like me. I went to climb higher, but I found that I couldn't get up any higher. I was stuck. Of course, I was in rabbit mode, so I didn't know that I was stuck. I just panicked.

"Now what the bloody hell is going on here?" Someone said. I turned around so my back was against the gate.

The same man from the park stepped to the front of the crowd of gardeners and maids. This time, he was wearing a brown suit. He looked up at me.

"You know you are not going to get anywhere." He said.

I was silent.

"Why don't you come down?" He offered. He was strangely calm among all the pissed off gardeners who were beaten by a girl.

I eyed said gardeners. I didn't like the way they looked.

"Everyone, please back up." The man said. Everyone growled but obeyed. He held out his arms as if to catch me. "Do you feel like jumping?"

I just looked at him.

"No one's going to hurt you." He said. Calmly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

For some reason, the little rabbit inside of me told me to jump. I needed to trust him, even if it was for a second. I jumped and he caught me in his arms. For some reason, I blushed when he held my waist.

"There we go." He said gently. He waved off the crowd of angry workers. "This could have been solved a different way. I hope to never see you all act like this again."

"Yes Mr. Kirkland." Everyone said. They all went back to work.

The man nodded and walked me inside.

"Should I get you something to wear besides a dressing gown?" He asked kindly.

I blushed at my state. I didn't even know what I was wearing until he pointed it out. He led me to my room and picked out a dress for me to wear. It was odd having a man pick out my clothes, but I found out he had good taste and filled my new closet with nice clothes. He pulled out a cream colored dress with red roses on it.

"I expect you can get dressed by yourself." He said, handing me the dress. "Comb your hair, too. I'd like to take you to tea."

I didn't know what to say, so I took the dress and answered with a quiet: "Thank you, sir."

He nodded and left me. After I got dressed and made myself look nice, I walked out of my room. A maid nodded to me and took me to what she called the: "Tea Room". She closed the door behind me and left.

The room was huge. The front wall was one big window that looked out over the estate. Along the back wall was a small stove, a fridge and some cabinets. The room could have fit several cafeteria tables, but the only table was a small tea table looking out over the window.

The man was seated in one of the two chairs at the table. He sipped some tea and looked out the window, a distant look in his eyes. I quietly took a seat and watched him. His face was peaceful with just a hint of concern in his distant eyes. Mindlessly, I asked: "What are you thinking?"

He gave me a sideways look. He gave a slight smile and sipped his tea.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm fine." I said, surprised by his change of subject.

"That's good." He said. He poured me some tea. I lifted the cup to my lips. He didn't see it, but I drank half of the cup in one sip. I was really hungry. I didn't eat dinner or breakfast. He offered me a plate of pastries. I tried my hardest not to steal the plate away from him and shove the whole thing in my mouth. I grabbed one small pastry and forced myself to eat it slowly.

"Have you been eating lately?" He asked. He must have seen the look on my face when I saw the food.

"I'm fine." I said haughtily. "Since when did strange men care about my diet?"

He gave me an almost pitiful smile. "I've always cared for the way a lady treats herself. It is important."

"I'm fine." I repeated. He offered me another pastry and I took it immediately.

"My name is Arthur Kirkland." He said. "What is your name?"

"Natalina." I answered.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Natalina." He said.

"Why don't you cut the crap." I said in the same polite voice I used before. "You're after the chip, aren't you?"

Arthur gave a slight smile and nodded. "Yes. I am."

"And all those other people were after it as well." I said.

He nodded again.

"I can't give it to you." I said.

"I thought you would say that."

"So are you going to kill me or torture me until you find the chip?"

Arthur gave me a sad smile. "I would never do that to a lady."

"I'm not going to give it to you." I said again.

"Would you like another pastry?"

"Yes, please." I paused. "You can't sweeten me up, either!"

"It seems you have a large sweet-tooth. I can't help it if it works."

"I haven't eaten for a while."

"So you are not taking care of yourself."

"Ok, point taken. What do you want from me?" I asked.

He gave a small laugh. He looked at me with bright eyes. "Can you give me some hints about this chip?"

"Are we playing 20 Questions?"

"In a way, I suppose."

"I guess hints can't hurt." I said.

"Do you know what's on the chip?" He asked, refilling my cup with tea.

"Yes." I answered.

"Word for word?"

"No."

"Step for step?"

"No."

"Rough outline?"

"Yes."

"Is the chip inside of you?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me where it is?"

"No."

"Why not?"

I gave him the dirtiest look I could manage. "No comment." It wasn't located somewhere private, because I know you were all thinking that, but if I gave it away, it would be like giving up too easy.

"Ok." Arthur sighed. "Is it powerful?"

"Yes." I said.

"How powerful?"

"Very."

"Can it tell me how to build a strong empire?"

"Yes."

"Can it tell me how to rule the world?"

I didn't answer him. It was true, but I was already giving out more information than I should be.

Arthur saw the look on my face.

"Is it dangerous?"

"Yes."

"To you or to the world?"

"Both."

"Do you love your mother?"

His last question nearly made me spill my tea.

"Why would you ask something like that?" I demanded.

"Do you feel you owe her something?" He asked.

"Don't talk about my mother." I said. It was true. I guarded this chip with my life because of my mother.

"Was she pretty?"

"Please stop."

"Like you?"

Now I really spilled my tea. I gripped my arm, which was the victim of hot tea. I put down my cup and put a cloth napkin over my arm to wipe away the hot tea. I swore under my breath. Arthur reached for my arm.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"I'm fine!" I said. I undid the bandages on my arm that got soaked with tea. I looked at an ugly cut. It was scabbed over, but it was still really red. Arthur gently took it in his hands and looked at it.

"It's healing nicely from when I first saw it." He said.

I slowly pulled my arm away, but he reached back and took it in his hand again. I felt a blush rising to my cheeks. He looked up at me. For the first time, I noticed his eyes were the deepest most understanding color of green I had ever seen.

"Have you always been this cautious?" He asked me.

"Since I got this chip." I said.

"…Have you always been this pretty?"

"You reached 20."

He smiled and stood up, still holding my hand. He slowly walked over to me. I looked up at him from my sitting position. He had this curious look in his eyes. He leaned down to me.

I wanted to speak. I wanted to say something. Anything. But I let him kiss me. I had never felt something so strong. I felt like I was underwater. Everything was heavy. I felt his other hand, the one not holding mine, work its way to my back. He parted our lips, but he was still holding me. I looked up at him through my eyelashes. He took his hand out of mine and pushed back my hair. He felt my cheek and then kissed me again. I stood up and slowly wrapped my arms around him. He kissed me a little bit harder. He put one hand on my back and the other one on my neck. I never felt so chemically attracted to someone.

Before I knew it, he cleared the tea table with one brush of his arm and had me on the table. He pressed against me. I let my hand wander through his messy blonde hair. His lips slowly worked their way to my neck. The gentle pressure of his lips made me want to be closer to him. I wanted to feel the heat from his lips. From his breath. From his gentle, caring hands. His hips pressed against mine. I could feel his ribs rubbing against mine. It didn't hurt. I barely noticed. I just let him kiss my neck, my cheeks and my lips. I closed my eyes and sighed. I could hear the crunch of the tea china under his shoes. I loosened his tie a little bit and undid his jacket. It was hard to love someone when they were forced to be as straight as a pole.

Then the lion inside me came out. I thought he wasn't doing this because he felt the same way. He didn't blush when he held my hand. He didn't feel any love when he caught me in his arms. He didn't feel any of that, even though, deep down, I felt that way. I pushed Arthur off of me and I got off the table. I backed up a few steps and covered my heart with my arm.

Just between us, the area right above my heart was where the chip was. When I feel threatened, my hand will touch that spot. As if I could protect the chip with just my hand. But Arthur didn't notice that. He just slowly walked over to me.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He said. He took my hand off of my heart. "Please trust me."

I looked down. "My own brother doesn't know I have this chip. I lied to him. I've learned not to trust anyone. Why should I trust you? You kidnapped me just to get to this chip. You-"

Arthur kissed me mid-sentence. "I brought you here because you were hurt." He said.

I stared at him. Then I started to cry softly. I was so confused. First, these people chase me for this chip, then I fall head-over-heels in love with a man I barely know, and then he claims he didn't want the chip at all. And during all of this, I broke my mother's greatest promise by telling someone about the chip. I betrayed her. When I said: "Why should I trust you?" I was really asking my mom to forgive me because I didn't follow her trust. Was it fair to place my mom's most trusted work into the hands of this caring, yet mysterious man?

He held me against him. "Don't cry." He said softly. "It's going to be ok. Don't cry."

Whimpering, I pressed my ear against his chest and listened to his soft heartbeat. I closed my eyes and let him hold me. I wanted him to do that forever.

_*****I'm a total England fangirl, so this had to be the first one to get done. If I could get some feedback on the rating, that would be great. I don't know if it will change… The only thing that I would say is steamier than this is a one French kiss later on in the story. Thank you!" **_


	3. Chapter 3

A few days had passed. I lived in Arthur's house for three days total. We got to know each other more. He seemed more interested in me than the chip.

On the third day, I went to the Tea Room to look out the big window. I was thinking to myself about my family. My brother was away, so he probably didn't notice that I was gone. And my father…

Arthur walked into the room. He wrapped his arms around me and looked out the window with me.

"What are you thinking?" He whispered in my ear. Yes, he still seemed to love me.

"My family." I answered.

"What about them?" He put his head on my shoulder.

I paused. "I don't know if I should go back."

He slowly unwrapped his hands from around me. "…Why…why would you want to go back? Haven't I…haven't I been…enough?" He sounded confused. I felt bad about the way he was acting. I didn't want him to be sad.

"You've done wonderful things for me." I said. I turned to face him. "My family might be worried. I just…I don't know…"

Arthur's staff had told me about his temper and sharp-tongue, but I had never seen that side of him. He was always a gentleman to me. Until now.

"Fine!" He said. "Leave! I don't care!"

"Wait, Arthur, I didn't say I-" I started.

"Go!" He snapped. He pointed to the door. "It's not like I fed you! Clothed you! I didn't give you a place to live!"

I grabbed his arm but he pulled it away.

"I didn't love you." He said softly.

"Arthur, just listen!" I said. "I didn't say I was leaving. I just said-"

"It's that chip, right?" He suddenly asked. Did he really snap? "You just want to protect that chip."

"This was the most trusted thing my mother gave me! My life depends on this chip!" I yelled.

"For God's sake, just forget the bloody chip!" Arthur yelled back. "Forget you're 'protecting'! Forget your mother!"

"Don't you dare talk about my mother!" I yelled. "Just don't!"

"You can't be the hero! Your mother might have died, but you can't get revenge-"

"Shut up!" I yelled. I covered my ears so I couldn't hear him yelling at me. I just heard myself. "Shut up! You never knew her! You never knew my family! Just shut up!" I started to cry. "You never had my mother! You didn't travel the world with her! You didn't take silly pictures with her around Europe! You don't know her! You don't know me!"

He walked to me as if to hold me again, but I pushed him away and ran out into the hall. All the maids stopped and watched me run. I didn't care about any of them. I just ran to the front door and grabbed my coat. With one last, sudden thought, I reached into Arthur's coat and grabbed his checkbook. I took off out the front door.

"I'm going shopping." I told the guard at the gate. He nodded and let me through.

I took off out the gate and ran into the nearby town. I didn't really use the checkbook. I just bought myself one pair of extra clothes. I signed the check: "To that heartless asshole". The person at the register didn't notice. It would be funny to see Arthur track his checkbook and find that little message. He deserved it.


	4. Chapter 4

_*****New character! :^)*****_

_**Warnings: Steaminess (again), some language and a Feliciano who is too cute for his own good. **_

_**I do not own Hetalia. I think I'd be more popular if I did. **_

"_Bella_, are you ok?" Someone asked.

I was on a bench in the town square. I had sat down and cried about the horrible misfortune that always seemed to follow me.

I looked up. There was a young, auburn haired man. He had brown paper grocery bags in his arms. He looked down with concerned eyes at me.

"I'm fine." I said. I dried my eyes.

"You look lost." He said. "Do you need a place to stay?"

"I don't know if I should-" I started.

He adjusted the bags in his arms and took my hand.

"You are lost." He said. "Come with me."

I followed him like a little child.

"I hope you like it here!" The man said. He put the bags on the counter of his kitchen.

I looked around the house. It was done Italian style, which I guess is where this man came from. "It's really pretty." I said.

"_Grazie_!" the man said. He smiled from ear to ear. "Would you like something to eat?"

I was about to say no, but my mouth watered and my stomach growled. The man smiled.

"I've got pasta." He offered.

We were at his kitchen table, eating some spaghetti that he made. It was a wonderful meal. I felt a lot better after I had some food, but the man looked at me with a sideways look.

"_Bella_, are you sure you're ok?" He asked.

"I'm fine. I've just had a hard day." I said.

"You look sad." He said.

"I'm fine."

"Is it heartache?" He asked. He reached across the table and took my hand like a worrying old grandma.

I paused. "I guess." I said.

"Oh no!" He cried. "I don't like heartaches! Here! Have more pasta!" He filled up my plate again.

I couldn't help but laugh. This man was acting like a child. "I'm ok. Really."

He smiled when I laughed. "Well, my name is Feliciano. What's your name?"

"Natalina." I said.

"What a pretty name! Natalina!" He didn't stop smiling. "What brings you here?"

"I was just shopping." I said. I pointed to my own bag at the door that had my clothes. "I was leaving town."

"Why, _bella_?" Feliciano asked.

"I just…I needed to leave." I said.

"Well, I hope I'm not stopping you." Feliciano frowned.

"No. You're not." I smiled at him.

I turned look around the kitchen. I noticed some clothes by kitchen door. My face paled. I knew those clothes. A black wife-beater, green army pants and combat boots. One, ok, but all three of them were at the door.

Feli followed my look. "Oh, my friend left them there. He came back from a park and his clothes were all dirty. He always visits, so I-"

I jumped up from the table. Feli frowned. "Uh oh. I think you found out. Sorry."

I started to back up.

"Please! _Bella_! Don't leave! Don't go! I- I just- I-" The man started to cry. I didn't move.

"I didn't want to capture you! I told Ludwig no! I told him that I didn't want to hurt someone like you, but then you were all sad in the town and I had to help you before someone else found you because I didn't want you to get hurt!" Feli's tears kept coming.

I walked over to him. "Um. Don't cry." I said. "I'm not mad."

He looked up. "Really?"

"Several people are after the chip." I said. "And you don't look like the person to try and kill me over it."

He dried his tears. "I saw you with Arthur Kirkland." He said softly.

My hackles raised at the mention of Arthur's name.

"I saw him kissing you." Feliciano went on. "I saw you telling him about the chip. I thought…maybe…you would…like to try Italian…"

"Whoa. Stop right there." I backed up a little. "You think I'd give you information about the chip if you made me love you?"

"Well…it worked for Arthur, right?" Feli pointed out.

"He's…different!" I said.

"I can be different too!" The Italian said. He stood up from the table and picked me up princess-style.

"Put me down!" I yelled. He kissed my head.

"Too late to say so,_ bella_!" He smiled.

He rushed me off to another room while I yelled at him. He put me on his bed and crawled over me.

"Wait!" I yelled. I pushed him off and sat up. "Who the hell do you think you are to be doing this to me?"

Feli thought. "…Italian?" He guessed.

"Stop. Right. There. Now." I said. I sighed. "Look, you are really cute and all, but I don't think doing this…is…" I trailed off.

Feliciano frowned. "You don't like making love?"

"Ew! Whoa! Way too private!" I backed up until my back was against the headboard.

His head sank as if he suddenly became depressed.

"Look, Feliciano, I'm not going to-" I started.

He kissed me suddenly on the lips. Why did strange men like to kiss me so much? Do I really look like a hooker?

"If it works for Arthur, I can show you better!" Feli nearly pouted.

"Wait! Could you please stop?" I asked.

"No!" He said in a childish voice. "I'm Italian! I can't let that Englishman be better than me!"

He grabbed my hands and pulled them over my head, pinning them to the headboard. He whispered in my ear: "If he can get hints out of you, I'll make you tell me word-for-word what's on that chip!"

I kicked him off of the bed. "Please! Stop!" I yelled.

His head popped back into view. "What, _bella_?'

"Arthur was…" I thought. "Agh! Forget that S.O.B.! Look, going to bed with me isn't going to make me tell you anything about this chip! I'm risking a lot already!"

"But my brother said I'll lose the game we're playing!" Feli wailed.

"…What?"

"My big brother said that winning your heart must be the way to get information about the chip because it worked for Arthur! If I win your heart, I win this game!"

I sighed. I didn't know this brother, but he also after the chip and I hated him already. "Did you tell anyone else about this game?"

"…yes…"

"You didn't." My heart sank. If I had a bunch of crazy people running after me with flowers and God knows what else trying to win my heart in return for the chip…oh dear Lord.

"I did." Feli said. "Sooo…can we make love now?"

"…How about some more pasta?"

"Sounds good!"

The air was awkward that dinner. Feli kept giving me these eyes as if he was looking at me under candlelight. After dinner, I thanked him for the meal.

"Are you going to stay here?" he asked.

"I don't know. I'm so close to Arthur's house. I don't want him…" I trailed off.

"Don't worry! You're safe here!" Feli said.

"What about your friends? They were after me too." I said.

"They'd lose the game we're playing over you!" Feli said. "That wouldn't be fair.

I thought for a minute. Well, Feli was nice. But did I trust him enough?

"I'll sleep on the couch!" Feli offered. "And you can have my bed."

"Just for one night." I said. It gave me enough time to get the hell out of this town and find my way home.

Feli cheered and went to go get my new bed ready.

That night, I was tempted to call my father. He was probably… I shook the thought out of my head.

Feli had fixed up his room and put all of my stuff in there. Well, really, it was just my coat and my bag of clothes.

I reached into my coat pocket and took out something that I had left in there. My iPod. I was so glad to have it. If there was one thing that could help me, it was music. I put in my earbuds and curled up under the blankets. I softly started to sing "Gypsy" by Suzanne Vega. It was one of my favorite songs. I started to drift off at the end of the song, but someone woke me up.

"That was lovely, _bella_! You sing very well!" Someone next to me said.

I jumped up and turned. It was Feliciano. Under the covers. In my bed. He smiled.

"How the hell did you get in here? Why?" I demanded.

Feliciano's lip started to tremble. "I was lonely." He simply said.

"Lonely?" I yelled. "Getting into someone else's bed saying you were _lonely _isn't enough! Forget it! If it's your bed you want, _I'll _sleep on the couch!"

"No! Don't go! Please!" Feli yelled. "I was lonely, so I came to see _you_!"

I paused.

"I was lonely in my house all alone. I came to check in on you." Feliciano said. "You were singing."

I was about to say something like: "So you crawled into my bed and you thought that was fine?" but one look into his childish eyes told me he didn't know what he did that was wrong. I sighed.

"Now what?" I asked him.

He pulled me down under the sheets and wrapped his arms around my waist. "I can stay here, right?" He asked.

I pulled the sheets from my head and looked at him next to me. "No fooling around?"

He pouted but nodded.

I turned over. "I hope you don't snore." I said. If this was the only thing that could make him happy, I guess there could be worse.

"I don't!" He answered. He curled up next to me. I hated it, but if it was going to make this man shut up, it would have to do.

Only fifteen minutes had passed after I fell asleep did Feli wake me up again.

"Your heart! It's beeping!" He cried. As if I was going to die.

"It's fine. It happens all the time." I said. He gave me a confused look. "It's the chip."

"Your chip beeps?" He asked.

"You can't hear it unless you press your ear to my heart…" I trailed off. "Hey, what were you doing?"

"I was sleeping against you. Like this." Feliciano turned me and laid his head on my chest. "I heard a soft beeping."

"Yeah, that's my chip." I said.

"So…the chip is near your heart?"

Well, he promised he wasn't going to give me to anyone or spill any secrets, so I guess it was ok to tell him about it. "Yes. It's right above my heart."

"Why did your mom put it there?" He asked.

"It was the safest spot for it." I said.

"Why?" He childishly asked.

"Because if someone tried to take it from me…forget it. It's too hard for you to understand." I turned away from him.

Suddenly, I felt something bite my ear. I gave a small yelp. Without letting go of my earlobe with his teeth, Feli asked me:

"Why, _bella_? Tell me."

I pushed the Italian away. "Ok! I'll tell you! What was with the ear thing?"

He shrugged. "It worked." He said.

I sighed. "If someone tried to take the chip, they would be charged with murder."

"Murder?" Feli cocked his head to the side.

"Yes. Murder. Because the chip is in an area that makes it hard to remove without…killing me."

"What about surgery?" Feli asked.

"Well, maybe. I don't know and I don't want to try."

"Does it ever scare you? Having something in your heart?" He asked.

"I can't work out too much because the chip presses against my heart, but other than that, I don't feel it."

"But does it scare you?"

"…a little."

"Why?"

"I'm not going to answer all of your questions!" I yelled. He turned me towards him and pinned my hands against the bed.

He kissed me. Again, what's with all the kissing? Arthur starts something and now everyone's trying to kiss and love me? Really…

His kisses weren't like the gentle kisses of Arthur. His kisses created a whirlwind feeling inside me. Like I couldn't think. I wasn't underwater. I was in a tornado.

I tried to pull away, but he pinned me to the spot. I tried to make some sounds, but Feli stroked my hair.

"Hush, _bella_, hush." He purred.

"Ok! I'll tell you all about the chip! What do you want to know?" I asked.

He paused. "I don't want the chip. Italy was part of the Roman Empire." His eyes grew sad. "I don't want to see Italy fall like Rome. I don't want it to collapse."

"My mom's plan if foolproof." I said.

"I have no use to rule the world. And my own personality would make it collapse." Feli said.

I couldn't help it. His words were music to my ears. Everyone else wanted the chip so badly for really lame reasons. I kissed him on his head. "Thank you, Feliciano. You are the wisest person in the world."

He smiled and kissed me again. At first I didn't want his kisses because Arthur- Hey, wait. Who gives a damn about Arthur? He broke my heart over my mom. I shouldn't let him stand in the way. I relaxed a little and Feli took full advantage of it. He kissed me up and down my neck. He bit my ear. He pressed himself against me. I made an "ah-ah-um" like sound. Feliciano gave me a sexy smile.

"_Bella_, relax." He purred.

"Why do you keep calling me _bella_?" I asked.

"It means beautiful in Italian. It's what you are." He said. He ran his fingers through my hair.

I was about to say something else, but his lips against mine stopped me. I felt his hand brush against my leg. I couldn't help but sigh. I needed to let out all the air that was slowly building in my lungs. Feli took this as a good sign. He just about turned inside out with joy and kissed my cheek.

Damn those Italians.

"I really shouldn't-" I tried to say.

Feliciano put a finger to my lips. I looked up at him. He slowly opened my mouth with his hand and did the most unexpected thing to me. He. Stuck. His. Tongue. In. My. Mouth. I couldn't help it. I ended up making "Ah! Uh! Ah!" noises. He just looked at me, his tongue feeling the roof of my mouth. I pulled back and gasped for the air that I really needed.

"You've never done this before?" He asked.

"No!" I said.

"How old are you?"

"…19."

"You're 19 and you've never had a French kiss before?"

"It's not my fault I'm not Italian!"

"Ah,_ bella_! You're getting too loud." Feliciano gave me a little peck on the lips to calm me down.

"I'm sorry. I don't care what your brother says about this 'game'. My heart and the chip are not the prizes. You can try, Italian, but you can't win them." I turned over.

"Aw, you're really aloof. That's too bad. It's hard to make love when-"

"Stop! I didn't say anything about love like this!" I said.

"For once, can't you lose yourself in love? Just for a while?" Feliciano asked. Well, nearly begged.

"I did. That man broke my heart and didn't bother to clean up the mess." I growled.

"Natalina?" He asked quietly.

"What?" I growled. Goodbye good night sleep.

"I think you're worth more than that chip." Feliciano said.

I couldn't help it. I was touched. All the people I've dated before either thought I was sort of pretty, or (recently) wanted the chip. If Feli was just flirting with me, he was doing it like a true Italian.

"Thank you." I said.

He snaked his arm around me. I took his hand in mine. His head snuggled up to the back of my neck. I could feel his warm breath on me. I felt safe. Of course, I also said that about an Englishman.


	5. Chapter 5

_*****Warnings: Some blood, but that's all! **_

_**I don't own Hetalia. I've tried and the restraining order is for life.*****_

"Feliciano! Where are you?" A loud voice yelled from the front door. "I came to get my clothes!"

Feli jumped a mile besides me. I turned over and looked at the Italian.

"It's Ludwig! This is bad! This is bad!" Feliciano whimpered.

"Why? Ludwig? Who's he?" I asked.

"My friend who met you in the park." Feli said.

I fell out of bed trying to scramble away. Feli jumped up and grabbed me by my waist.

"No! Don't go! Hide!" He said.

"I need to get out of here!" I told him.

"If he sees you, he'll kill you!"

"Get real, Feli."

"I _am _real!"

I tried to calm down. This wasn't good. Feli was cute and it was easy to be around him, but I didn't like that loud voice from the door. That voice was trouble. I tried to breathe and I turned to Feli.

"Look, I'm going to run away. I want you to distract your friend from-" I paused.

I felt my heart. It was hurting me because of the strain on the chip. I could feel the chip press against it. I pulled down the collar of my shirt and sure enough, I could see the rough outline of a small computer chip visible with the pounding of my heart. I tried to breathe.

Sure, this has happened before. I bet it even happened when I was running away from Arthur's servants, but I didn't feel it because I was trying to run away. I also worked really hard at controlling the pace of my heart whenever I'm running so that it won't hurt as much. But there was something different. For once, my mind thought I was really going to loose to the loud voice downstairs. I tried to calm myself down. This wasn't happening. My heart hadn't caused me pain in years. Why now?

I held my hand over my heart and tried walking a bit. My heart started to calm down and the pain started to go away. But I wasted too much time.

The man called Ludwig opened up the door. Feli started to cry and ranted about some nonsense involving me. Ludwig turned to me and glared. He was tall, with blue eyes and blonde hair.

"You!" He yelled. I tried to run past him, but he grabbed my arm. My poor heart just had enough. I yelled in pain, not over Ludwig grabbing my arm, but over my heart, which apparently chose to secretly explode on me. Well, at least it felt like that.

I coughed up a mixture of spit and blood. Ludwig and Feliciano were both surprised by the sudden burst of red liquid from my mouth. Ludwig dropped my arm. I staggered out the bedroom door and ran into the hall. I heard both of the men come running after me.

I ran into the kitchen and picked up one of the kitchen knives. I held it in front of me like a weapon. When Ludwig and Feli rounded the corner, they both stopped dead in their tracks. Feli screamed and Ludwig pushed Feli aside so he wouldn't get hurt. Ludwig drew a gun and held it at me.

"Do you know how much your head is worth?" Ludwig said. "Nearly every country in the world is after you!"

"Yeah, I kind of caught onto that." I said.

"Please! Don't hurt her Ludwig! She didn't do anything! She's really cute and she's nice and she's sweet and she can do all that bondage stuff you like so much just don't hurt her please Ludwig!" Feli cried.

If it wasn't for me holding a knife, I think Ludwig would have turned that gun on Feliciano instead. I would have too. I'm not into bondage! When did Feli come up with _that _crap?

I tried to say something, but my heart gave out again and I started coughing up blood. Ludwig turned to me and saw me holding my heart. He stormed over while I was weak and took the knife from me. I backed up, still coughing. He pulled my hand away from my heart and pulled down the collar of my shirt. Sure enough, he could see the chip pulsing against my skin in time with my heart.

Ludwig gave a triumphant grin. He grabbed me by my neck. He took the knife and held it like he was going to cut open my heart right there. Feli screamed again I just made eye contact with Ludwig.

"Just let me die quick." I told him. There was something in Ludwig's eyes that faltered. I turned and took that time to bite the hand that was holding my neck. Out of surprise, Ludwig let go of my neck. I took off out the kitchen door.

I heard a gunshot and I dropped and covered my head.

"Stay down!" Ludwig yelled. "Or I'll shoot!"

I turned over and sat up. I coughed up more blood. Damn chip. Ludwig stormed over to me, his gun raised. Feli suddenly jumped in the way.

"Run Natalina! Run!" Feli screamed.

I took off into the woods that were behind Feliciano's house. I didn't stop for anything. When I was far enough away, I slowed down and spat out the blood that was still in my mouth. I wasn't coughing anymore.

I looked behind me. Nothing was following me anymore. I took that time to slowly walk deeper into the woods. I had no idea where I was going.

And I left my iPod at Feli's place.

_*****In case any of you are wondering how I got so many chapters up so fast, is because I did a lot of writing before I posted this. I didn't know how people would react to the OC pairings, so I was hesitant to put this story up. But know I did, so ha! :^) Reviews? Please? For the sake of a sad Feliciano?*****_


	6. Chapter 6

"_Agh! Too cold!" My brother yelled. _

"_C'mon! It's not that cold!" I told him. _

_It was a cool summer night. My family went out camping. I was seven. My brother was ten. It was my mom's idea. _

"_Brad, don't complain." My father said. _

"_But it's cold!" Brad said again. _

"_I'll sleep near the tent wall then!" I said. "That way you'll be in the middle. You are always cold!" _

"_Yeah?" Brad challenged me. _

"_Yeah!" I said back. _

"_Nattie, Brad, go to sleep." My mom said. She looked up from her book that she was reading in her sleeping bag. _

"_I'll sleep next to mom!" Brad declared. He went to the empty sleeping back next to mom and curled up inside it. _

_I went to the sleeping bag closest to the tent wall, where a small hole in the fabric let in some of the summer air (which Brad said was too cold for him). My father and I were always warmer than my brother and mother, so we always did the hard stuff like firewood in the winter for keeping Mom and Brad warm when camping. _

_I laid my head on my pillow and drifted off to sleep. Then I heard something outside. I woke Brad up. He, in turn, woke Mom up. She got up to look outside. _

"_I think it was a bear." I said. _

"_It's not a bear!" Brad told me. _

_Dad was woken up by our talking. He turned over to find Mom's sleeping bag empty. _

"_Where's Mom?" He asked us. _

_We pointed outside and told him about what I heard. _

"_It was like something was moving in the bushes!" I said. My father sighed and started to get out of his sleeping bag. Suddenly, it started to rain. My father looked all around the tent to try and figure out what happened. _

_Then I heard a scream. I jumped and looked outside the tent. My father pushed me back and ran out into the rain. Lightning let my brother and me see what was going on. _

_I could see the outline of Mom. She was on the ground. Another strange shadow appeared. It was tall and it was holding something. I couldn't talk. I couldn't move. _

_I reached for Brad's hand, but he wasn't there anymore. I was alone in a dark tent. I looked at the shadow. It raised something long over its head. _

_And brought it down over my mother's. _

_Blood splattered the tent wall. The small hole in the wall that my brother complained about let a little of my mother's blood reach my face. I slowly touched the red liquid on my face. I looked down at my hand. I was holding a bloody computer chip. The chip turned into a snake and stared at me with red eyes. I stared back at it. _

_It reared back its head and bit my heart._

I woke up drenched in sweat. I looked around. The area was woods for as far as I could see. I slowly got up and started to walk. It was around one in the morning. The woods were dark. I sat down to rest because I couldn't walk anymore. After some sleep, I felt better, but I wished the nightmare didn't have to wake me up.

I rubbed my sleepy eyes and kept walking.

"I'm _where_?" I yelled at the shop owner.

She flinched at my voice. "Italy." She repeated. "A small town in Italy."

I paced the floor. "Where's the nearest airport?" I asked.

"A long way from here." She said. Her English wasn't that good and I could barely speak Italian.

"How do I get there?" I asked, still pacing.

"You need to get a limo. Or walk." The woman said. "No taxis here. Sorry."

"How do I get a limo." I asked.

"You have money?" She asked me.

My heart sank. Arthur's checkbook was in my coat pocket, which was in Feliciano's house.

"No." I said.

"Limo only take money before ride." The woman said. "Or you walk."

I sighed. "I guess I'll walk. Can you give me directions?"

The woman smiled. "I sell maps. For a price."

The only time I've ever wanted to really hit a woman was this Italian shop owner. She wouldn't give me a free map. She wouldn't even _show _it to me unless I married her second son (yeah, I think something was lost in the translation). I ended up walking out.

After stumbling around for about a day in the woods with only some wild berries I found to eat, I came upon this small town. All the people stared at me as I walked down the streets. Only one person offered help and that was just for some leftover food. I got the feeling that this was a pretty but poor town that couldn't help lost people like me.

I walked down the streets drooling at food vendors along with half of the people there. I ended up walking out of the town disappointed due to map fails and no help. Well, at least I knew I needed to hop on a plane to get back to America, where my home was.

I sniffled a little and started to walk out of the town. Then, a kind soul who lived on the edge of the town offered to tell me where I was. She was an old grandma and didn't speak a lick of English. So through hand gestures and pointing at a map, I found my way to the nearest airport.

And so starts my long journey to the Italian airport. There was a lot of hitchhiking, which ended up in a hilarious story about a shepherd, a flock of sheep and a pick-up truck (don't ask).

I was happy until I got to the airport, because I realized I didn't have money for a flight. I went to the ATM for some money, but my father was crazy about his money, so neither my brother nor I know the codes to any bank accounts. I groaned and smacked my head against the ATM over and over again. It was a more peaceful way to slowly die than to die of frustration and starvation.

"Ya need some help there?" Someone asked.

I jumped and turned to face this person. He was a boy about my age, with blonde hair and glasses. He wore dirty jeans and a t-shirt that had a guitar on it. He leaned against the side of the ATM and cocked his head.

"I'm fine." I said.

"Smacking your head against the ATM is one weird way to get some money." The boy said.

"I don't need help." I told him.

"Do you mind? Other people want to use this machine!" Someone behind me yelled.

The boy rolled his eyes. "C'mon. Let's get outta here before someone gets their panties in a knot. Want somethin' to eat?"

I don't think I've ever inhaled something so fast. This boy took me out to one of the airport fast food places and treated me to a burger.

"Were ya headin' off to?" The boy asked.

"I was going to hop a plane to America." I said.

"It looks like that's workin' out well." The boy commented.

"Yeah." I sighed. I was going to call my father for some money, but I don't think he'd believe me if I told him the stories. That and I'd have to tell him the whole 'chip' thing over the phone. Nope. I had to find a different way.

"Ya know, I've got an extra ticket with me." The boy said.

"What happened that a boy like you ended up getting an extra ticket?" I asked as I finished of my French fries.

The boy wrinkled his nose. "Other person didn't show up. Ya wanna take it?"

He held out a ticket for a plane to New York. It wasn't even close to my home in South Carolina but I could figure that out when I got there. I took the ticket and put it in my pocket.

"It leaves later this afternoon." The boy said. "Hope ya don't mind hangin' until then."

"I'm fine with that." I said.

"My name's Alfred." The boy thrust his hand across the table for a handshake.

"I'm Natalina." I told him.

He looked up as if he thought or forgot something. He shook his head after a moment of thinking. "Sorry. Your name sounded familiar, but I can't recall it."

I was glad he didn't know who I was. I was sure that Ludwig would have spread the news about me when I ran away. Finally, I was in a place where no one knew who I was.

"Ya gonna finish off that shake, Nat?" Alfred asked, pointing to the milkshake.

Everything went smoothly. Well, that was until the airport security caught me. I didn't have any phones or jackets, so I just walked through. The censor went off to tell the security that I had something metal on me. I tried my best to explain in Italian that there was something wrong with my heart and I had metal parts in there. Yet another language to check off that I can lie in. Alfred didn't seem to notice, so I guess he really didn't know who I was. Thank God.

We boarded the plain. My seat was a window seat next to Alfred. The seat on the other side of him was empty. I sighed a breath of relief. I was going to finally get back home. I couldn't go to the park anymore, because that's where everyone found me, but I could at least be in my own home. I relaxed and suddenly felt tired. I guess it was all the stress. My eyelids got heavy.

"You can totally chill if you're tired." Alfred told me after he saw my tired eyes.

"Thanks." I said. My eyes closed and I fell asleep.

I woke up with a start when I felt my heart in pain. I opened my eyes to find Alfred pressing two fingers against my chest.

He smiled and looked at me. "I can feel it." He said. "The chip."

My skin grew cold.

"So _you're _the girl!" Alfred beamed at me. It was nighttime and a lot of people were sleeping. Several people who didn't like their sleep disrupted hushed Alfred's loud voice.

"Ah…" I started. I backed up against the window. "Don't touch me or I'll scream." I warned him.

He smiled at me like I just challenged him to something that he could win. He grabbed my arm with one hand and covered my mouth with the other. He dragged me to the airplane's bathroom before I could say anything. He shut the door before anyone noticed.

I struggled under his grasp, but he was almost superhero strong. I gave up and started pleading from under his hand. He cocked his head to the side when he saw the panic on my face.

"Hey, don't worry!" He said. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I was afraid you'd yell, so that's why you're in here."

I stopped pleading but I didn't give up completely. I was frozen to the spot. Alfred didn't move either. Slowly, he uncovered my mouth. I took a deep breath to yell, but Alfred kissed me. I was forced to slowly exhale my tense breath through my nose. It wasn't a long kiss. Alfred contemplated for a minute.

"Arthur could have described it better." He said.

"What the hell?" I yelled. Alfred covered my mouth again.

"Arthur told me all about you." Alfred said. My eyes grew wide. Alfred smiled. "He'll say anything when he's drunk."

I struggled again, but Alfred held me in his arms in a way so I couldn't struggle.

"You're a squirmy one!" Alfred said. "Calm down, dudette!"

I swore from behind his hand. I was about to say something else rude to him, but a sleepy person opened the bathroom door because Alfred didn't lock it. The person stared at us and I stared back.

"Whoa, privacy, dude!" Alfred said. He shut the door in the person's face.

I tried to scream, but Alfred had strong hands that really clamped down on my mouth. I tried to peal his hand off, but yet again, he defeated me in strength. He didn't do anything but watch me dig myself deeper into a hole.

He suddenly grabbed me in a bear hug. I was surprised to the point where I didn't move.

"Chill, ok?" his voice was calm, for once. "It's gonna be ok. I'm not mean like Ludwig." His hug nearly squeezed the life out of me, but there was something in it that was trying to comfort me even though he was really strong.

"But you're still after the chip!" I said. "That thing is my life!"

Alfred smiled and let go of me from his hug. "Can I take you home with me?"

If I had a drink, I'd spit it. If I had a gun, I'd shoot him. If I had parachute, I wouldn't give it to him and make him jump out of this plane. There were a lot of things that I would have done if I had something in my hand. But instead, I just looked at him and muttered: "Whaa…?"

Alfred rolled his eyes. "Can you spend the night at my house? I mean, you're kinda cool and I'd like to get to know ya better."

I glared at him. "In other words, I'm a prisoner of yours, just like Feliciano and Arthur?"

Alfred nodded. "Yep!"

I was about to yell at him, but someone knocked on the door. "You've spent enough time in there! Get out!" Someone yelled.

I think Alfred made an effort to look sexually pleased with himself when both of us left the bathroom. Do you know how embarrassing it is to walk out of a bathroom with a boy you barely know and have the long line of people at the bathroom door suspect you of doing unspeakable things on a plane? I don't think so. But that's what I felt.

I hated this guy already.


	7. Chapter 7

August 16, 2011. The day I almost died in a motorcycle accident.

I should back up and tell you what happened:

When the airplane landed, I tried several times to run away from Alfred, but he always caught me and also succeeded in making me look like a complete idiot while he was at it. I ended up not trying anymore.

We walked out of the airport. In the parking lot, near the front, was a motorcycle. Alfred cheered when he saw it.

"Praise be to Matt and him dropping off my baby so I could ride her back home!" Alfred said, patting the side of the motorcycle affectionately.

I thought for a second. "Wait." I said. "You're going to ride that thing back to your apartment?"

"Yeah? What's so wrong with that?" Alfred asked. He picked up a helmet that had a small face shield on it that was resting on the seat of the motorcycle.

"This is New York City!" I yelled. I looked around at the skyline. It was sunset and all the lights in the tall buildings started to flicker on.

"Yep!" Alfred said.

"You are not making me ride that small Honda motorcycle in the middle of NYC." I told him.

"It's not a Honda. It's a Harley Davidson. And I do this all the time." Alfred walked over to me and put the helmet on my head. He bent down slightly (I'm not the tallest of people) and adjusted the straps.

"Looks cute on you!" Alfred commented. "Matches your eyes." He turned around and took the key for his motorcycle out of his pocket. He started the bike up and motioned for me to join him on the small seat on the back. I just stood there.

"You're gonna make my baby run out of juice if you stand there!" He yelled over the roar of the engine.

I slowly got onto the back of the bike. Alfred took out a pair of what looked like aviator goggles and put them on.

"If you make us crash and die, I will personally send you to hell-" I started.

The motorcycle suddenly took off. Alfred made a few circles in the parking lot before cutting in front of a car at the parking lot exit. He took off onto the highway. He zipped around several cars and was going way beyond the speed limit.

We got off the highway and into the heart of NYC. He raced around already speeding taxis. He even hopped the curb in Times Square just to grab two apples off a food vendor. He took a bite out of one apple and threw the other one to me. I was holding Alfred in a death grip around his waist and barely caught the apple. He turned to me with a goofy, half-filled-with-apple smile and winked at me from behind those goggles. I glared at him. I didn't like the speed he was going, I didn't like the way he was driving and I didn't like the way he broke several laws. This was not a fun trip.

I turned back to the road and screamed. Alfred also turned back. A huge truck was right in the middle of the intersection. There was no way we were going to make it around the truck in time. I was sure half of my body would still be on the motorcycle and half would be under the truck. In a daring move, Alfred turned his bike to the side. It slid across the intersection. My hair just missed a little Ford car that was driving by. The weight of Alfred and me tipped the bike to the side. We slid under the truck sideways. When we got to the other side of the truck, Alfred used his foot to kick the bike back up while it was still moving. He got it on the right course and we were off again.

Not much after that was interesting. The whole thing made me grow a few white hairs on my head. We escaped several cop cars and dodged dumpsters in alleys. We did end up alive in front of Alfred's apartment building, much to my surprise. Alfred was laughing like a loon.

I slowly peeled my arms off of him. "That was insane!" I yelled.

"Oh, lighten up!" Alfred said. "That was fun!"

"That was not fun!" I yelled. "You put us both in danger-" I paused to cough. No blood, but I had to catch my breath from the coughing fit. I cleared my throat. Something was wrong. I never have had so many fits in this amount of time.

"You ok?" Alfred asked. He actually seemed concerned, which was a big change considering that he just risked both of our lives.

"I'm fine." I said. I slowly took a breath. It seemed that the fit had passed.

Alfred suddenly scooped me up and slung me over his shoulder. "I need to get the pretty girl inside!" He declared. "'Cause I'm a hero!"

We got several strange looks from people inside Alfred's building as he marched me upstairs. He seemed to think that the elevator was too slow, so we took the stairs. Well, Alfred took the stairs. I didn't walk because I was still over his shoulder. I decided it was useless to try and make him put me down, so I just hung there while he opened up his apartment door.

He nearly threw me onto his bed and plopped down next to me, a Coke in his hand. He took a huge swig and then offered it to me. I took a small sip. There was nothing else better to do. I'd just have to find a way out of the apartment when Alfred wasn't here.

"So how much did you hear about me from Feliciano?" I asked. Apparently, everyone who was after me all knew each other, so I might as well ask.

He turned to me and smiled. "All of it." He said.

"Even that game…?" I asked, worry in my voice.

His smiled almost turned…I don't know…sexy? "Yep."

I groaned. I hated the Italian. I sat up and turned to Alfred. "Look, I'm not a slut. Feliciano got it wrong. Your love won't make me tell you anything!"

Alfred blinked and then shrugged. "I didn't say you were a slut." He said.

I paused. "Really?"

"Yeah. You're like a princess." He said. "You just need to find that perfect guy. Someone who'll protect you before they worry about the chip."

At first I was touched by his words. No one ever called me a princess. It was always 'rebel' or 'that girl'. I shifted around before blushing and saying "Thanks."

Alfred smiled again. "Hey babe?" He asked.

"It's not babe."

"Hey Nat?"

"What?"

Alfred turned his head to the side and looked at me. "Can you laugh?"

"Can I what?" I asked.

Alfred also sat up. "Can you laugh? For me?"

"Why?"

Alfred shrugged. "I've never seen you laugh. I want to make sure you could."

His last childish statement did end up making me giggle. He smiled.

"Can you laugh louder?" He asked.

"I'm not finding anything funny right now." I said.

"Do you like jokes?" Alfred asked excitedly.

"Yeah." I said.

He smiled like he found the way to El Dorado. "What do you call a black person who flies a plane?"

I paused. My family always wanted to keep the house clear of racist jokes, so I didn't have an answer for Alfred. I shrugged.

"A pilot, you racist!" Alfred pretended to slap me on the arm.

I couldn't help it. I laughed. I laughed really loud. "Oh my God!" I said. I couldn't speak I was laughing so hard. "That…that was…so funny!"

"I know, right?" Alfred said. "It's like a racist joke…without being racist!"

He laid down again and pulled my arm until I was lying down next to him. I was still giggling.

"I could tell you more jokes, but I don't know how dirty you want to get." Alfred said.

"God I can't breathe!" I said. "Don't tell me another joke until I catch my breath."

Alfred smiled and put an arm around my shoulders and brought me closer to him. I put my head on his shoulder. I felt at ease with someone who could make me laugh. It was a rare thing, to make me smile or laugh.

"So, where do you live?" Alfred asked.

"Stalking me already?" I asked.

"No!" Alfred laughed. "Just wonderin'"

"South Carolina." I told him.

"You don't have the accent." Alfred pointed out.

"I traveled the world with my mom when she had lectures. I wasn't anywhere long enough to have an accent. My mom was from the Midwest, so I guess that was the closest thing I got to an accent. By the time she died, my brain was wired so I didn't pick up any dialect from the kids at school."

"When did your mom die?" He asked me. I looked down.

"Well… I don't know." I said. "She went missing for a week. We never found the body, but we did find a lot of blood out in an alley. So we think she died. It's been several years now, so I'm pretty sure she's dead." I said.

"What about other family?" He asked as he took another swig of soda.

"I have a brother and a father." I said.

"Older brother or younger?" He asked me.

"Older." I told him.

"What's he like?" Alfred asked.

"Now or before mom died?" I asked.

"Both."

"Before mom died he was really nice. I always looked up to him. I also always beat him up when it came to a fight."

"And after?"

"Huge asshole. Thought I couldn't fend for myself. Forgot me when he went off to collage to become a doctor." I said.

"I'm sorry about that." Alfred said.

"It's not your fault." I turned to look away from him. I felt a warm hand press against my cheek and bring my face back to look at him. We stared at each other for what seemed like forever. I couldn't move. I didn't want to move.

Then Alfred slowly brought his lips to mine. I closed my eyes. He wrapped his arms around me and brought me close enough to press against him. At the last minute, I pulled away.

"I told you, my heart is not for sale!" I said.

"I can't help it if you're cute!" Alfred said. I paused. Why did all these men know just what to say to me? Did they ask my past boyfriends about what I like to hear? God…

Alfred patted my hair and ran his fingers through it. His fingers ran up my neck and into my hair. A shiver ran down my back from the sensation. He smiled.

"So you like that?" He asked, running his hand through my hair again.

"Yes-I mean- no! I mean, uh, ah-" I struggled to find an answer. He chuckled and came so close to my face I could feel his milkshake breath against my skin. Oh so sexy and yet oh so stinky.

He saw the look I had on my face. "Aw, man! Shake breath, babe?"

"It's not babe. And yes. Milkshake breath, Alfred."

"Crap. Got a mint?" He asked. I won't even_ start_ on how hard he failed. I handed him a mint. There were a few awkward seconds as he chewed the mint in his mouth. Then he wrapped his arms around me suddenly and kissed me again.

"Well, the face you're making isn't a 'shake breath' face, so I guess I'm good." He said.

"You are juvenile and you have poor taste, Alfred!" I tried to get up, but he whined like a child and pulled me down again by my waist.

"No! I'm not letting you go!" He pouted.

"For God's sake, I'm not going to run away!" I said. "Why do you think that of me?"

"It's not about you." Alfred said. He clung to my waist. "I'm not letting you go because Arthur and Feliciano didn't know what they had until you ran away. I'm not letting that you go because I know what I'll lose!"

God, he was good at pick-up lines. He looked up at me with his bespeckled face. I shook my head. "You are one hell of a loser." I said.

"But the best one." He pointed out.

"True. Very true." I said. I smiled and sat back, my head against the headboard. Alfred put his head in my lap and looked up at me.

"Hey Nat?" He asked.

"What is it now?"

"Can I kiss you?" He asked.

I looked away. "That's a very hard question for me."

He sat up and looked me in the eye. "I'll take that as a yes." He said.

I was about to say something, but he closed the gap between our lips. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. He sighed and wrapped his arms around me. He held me in his arms, never breaking the contact our lips made. I reached up and ran my hand through his messy hair. He pressed me against the headboard and rubbed my lower back with one of his hands. I felt feverish and my head was swimming. Well, I'm not the best at love, ok? Even a simple kiss can make my head spin. He nibbled on my bottom lip. I squeaked. Alfred chuckled and kissed me some more. He slowly worked his way to my neck. I sighed and let out a soft moan. I bit my lip when I realized the sound I just made. Alfred took that as a challenge and bit my soft spot to see if he could make me moan again. I gasped softly. Alfred cradled the back of my head with his hand. He was slowly making his way back up my neck when I opened my eyes.

I screamed at the sight by the open bedroom door.

Alfred turned and smiled. "Hey Tony! Where have you been?"

There. Was. An. Alien. At. The. Door. I just sat there and with my mouth open. The grey creature with red eyes stared back at me.

"Natalina, this is Tony. He's my friend. Tony, this is Natalina. She's hot." Alfred told the alien.

"I-what-I…how…?" I stared at the little man for a little while.

"Tony wants you to stop staring." Alfred said. "He doesn't like it when strangers judge him."

"How do you know what it's saying?" I yelled.

"Tony is telepathic." Alfred said. "But he doesn't like talking to strangers, so he talks through me."

"Can he read my mind?" I asked. This wasn't real. This little man must have been CGI or some crap like that. I was _not _talking to an alien.

"Tony says you're practically yelling at him with your mind. And he is not CGI or some crap like that." Alfred said. Alfred turned to the alien. He paused. "R-really? Is that what she's thinking?" He asked Tony.

"Don't!" I pointed at the alien. "I don't care what or who you are! Don't read my mind!"

Alfred opened his mouth to translate something that Tony had said, but I glared at the alien. "Don't." I repeated. "Don't read my mind. Don't tell Alfred anything."

I was in my lion mode. This alien could make me lose everything I worked for when it came to the chip. All my mom's work and all of the secrets I kept: gone. Put into Alfred's hands.

"Chill, dudes!" Alfred said. Tony slightly moved and Alfred paused. He turned to the alien. "What happened?" He asked the little grey man, as if he was surprised.

I launched myself at the alien. I wouldn't let him say anything to Alfred. I needed to break the connection. In mid-launch, Alfred pushed me back on the bed.

"Sit down and don't strain yourself!" Alfred commanded. I had never heard him use that tone of voice, but I listened to him and shut my mouth. Alfred turned back to the alien and listened to the thoughts coming into his mind. I closed my eyes. Goodbye world. The new leader of the earth, Alfred, was coming into power through the use of alien telepathy and a 19-year-old girl.

"Natalina?" Alfred asked quietly. "Is it true?"

"Is what true? I missed the whole freaking conversation!" I yelled.

"That the chip is hurting you?" Alfred furrowed his eyebrows and looked at me in confusion.

I turned to the alien. "Is that what you read in my mind? About the chip and my health?"

"Tony says it was the first thing he found in your mind, so that means it's important to you." Alfred said.

I sighed. I looked away from both of the …men?

"Yes. It's true." I thought. Tony gave the message to Alfred. Alfred sat on the edge of the bed next to me. He actually looked worried. I wondered what Tony told him.

"Where does it hurt?" He asked.

I pointed to my arm. It really hurt in my heart, as you all know, but I should at least lie to him to keep my mother's promise. I didn't want to give everything away.

"Tony says that's not where it hurts." Alfred said.

I pointed to my heart. He knew the chip was there.

"What does it do to your heart?" He asked me. I didn't look up at him. Even though I didn't tell him, what I was thinking was sent to Alfred via Tony.

Alfred gasped. "Is it true?" He asked. "The chip-"

"Makes small cuts on my heart." I finished. I should know better than to trust my thoughts with the alien. "Little by little, blood gets into my heart because of these small cuts."

"So when you work out too much-" Alfred started.

"The blood seeps into my heart faster and I cough up blood." I said.

Alfred sat there in silence. There. Big secret was out. My life was in danger because of this chip. It would rip apart my heart slowly with small cuts. Death by chip. Funny description on my gravestone. I grabbed a pillow and held it against my chest.

"…Tony also said something about your dad-" Alfred started.

"Keep the hell away from my family!" I yelled at the alien. I threw down the pillow. Alfred grabbed my arm. If it wasn't for his strength, I would have ran over and made a nice new raincoat out of alien skin.

I turned to Alfred. "How much did the little shit tell you?" I demanded.

Alfred just looked at me.

"What did he tell you?" I yelled.

"He told me your dad has a problem, but he didn't tell me what it was. He said you didn't like him." Alfred said.

I stood there in front of Alfred. He still had a death grip on my arm. "Yeah. He has a problem."

"…Can I ask?" Alfred said, still gripping my arm.

I looked at the ground. I stared at a mustard stain on the cream colored carpet.

"Please?" Alfred asked again.

"He's an alcoholic, ok?" I yelled. "I hate him because I pay the bills with money my brother makes because my father sits at home all day and drinks!" I pulled my arm away from Alfred and crossed my arms. I turned to face the wall. "I hate him because I'm more of a parent than he is." I fought tears back.

Alfred was silent.

"So my brother's an ass, my father's a drunk and my mom is dead. There's my life. Happy now?" I quietly said.

"I'm sorry." Alfred said. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"It's not your fault." I said. "Anyone would want to know." I chuckled quietly. "I even lied to my classmates about my father and brother. I told them that my brother often visits from collage and my father always laughs and goofs around with me. It made me feel better about my home life. I didn't mind cleaning up whisky glasses and beer bottles when my friends thought I had an awesome family." I wiped away a small tear that found its way down my cheek.

Alfred stood up and came over to me. He hugged me. Tony hadn't moved since he came and he still didn't move. He just looked at Alfred and then back at me. I put my head against his chest and closed my eyes.

"I shouldn't have pestered you about it." Alfred said. He patted my head. "The bathroom is to the right. The shower doesn't work, but you could draw yourself a bath."

I looked up at him. He rubbed the tears off my cheek and smiled softly.

"You look like you need to clean up." He said. "I'll find you something to wear while you relax."

"Thanks." I smiled back. "How did you know that a bath is just what I needed?"

"Tony told me!" Alfred beamed. I turned and glared at the alien, who turned and walked out of the room.

Eeee

I sighed and closed my eyes. The water was warm and it felt good against my bare skin. I collected the bubbles around me. Alfred didn't have any bubble bath liquid (I'd be suspicious if he did), but you'd be surprised how many bubbles shampoo can make. I lowered my soaped-up hair into the water.

I curled up under the water and listened to the sounds that filled my ears. It reminded me of the time my family went to the beach. I fell off a dock and my brother jumped in and saved me. The family treated us to ice cream afterwards to celebrate my brother's hero move that he pulled on the dock.

I had been in the bath for a while. When I opened my eyes up under the water, I saw my hand was starting to prune. Starting to need air, I pulled my head out of the water and sat back against the rim of the tub. I looked around the bathroom.

It wasn't in bad shape, but it wasn't the Queen's bathroom, if you know what I mean. There was a watermark around the tub, so I'm guessing Alfred is sloppy when it comes to cleaning up bath water. I quickly, very quickly, shook the thought of Alfred taking a bath out of my head. There was a beat up hairdryer on the small counter. Alfred had set me up with all the things I needed in the bathroom. A small stack of towels was on the floor near the tub.

I felt my hair. It was still full of shampoo. I went under the water again and shook my head to get rid of the soap. I opened my eyes and stared at the murky water. It felt good to get clean. I hadn't taken a shower since I was at Arthur's house. I ran away from an angry German, tromped through Italian woods and nearly got killed on a motorcycle. My hair needed one damn wash before I did anything else stupid and crazy, like the rest of my life.

I heard a loud whistle even from under the water. I gasped and water rushed up my nose. I pulled my head out of the water and coughed. Then I sneezed soapy water and looked up.

Alfred was leaning against the door with a goofy smile on his face. "Yo, babe! Are you done yet? Other people live in this apartment y'know!"

"My God, get out!" I yelled. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself in the tub. "You pervert! Couldn't you just knock?"

Alfred shrugged. "Yeah, but that wouldn't be as much fun!"

"Get out!" I yelled. I picked up a loofah sponge and flung it at him. It landed on his face with a 'squish'. He laughed and dodged a shampoo bottle. I struggled to get up and wrap another towel around myself. I jumped out of the tub and lunged for the man. He gave a yelp and ran out of the room. I slammed the door shut and got into the shorts and t-shirt Alfred gave me to wear. I didn't bother drying my hair. I just ran out into the apartment and gave chase to the young man.

At first I was mad at him, but his laughing made it hard to stay angry. I ended up laughing like a loon and chasing Alfred around his apartment.

"Stand still and let me hit you, damnit!" I laughed.

Alfred jumped over his couch and ran into the bedroom. I followed him. He did a barrel roll over the bed and ran out into the living room again. I slipped and fell trying to turn around to grab him. Laughing, I got up and chased him again.

He suddenly stopped and covered my mouth. We both listened. Outside the door, someone was yelling: "We're trying to sleep! Shut up!"

Alfred gave a small embarrassed laugh and yelled: "Sorry Mrs. F! We'll shut up now."

"Good! Try and get some sleep!" The woman yelled. I could hear her walk away from the door.

We both laughed quietly. "Who was that?" I asked.

Alfred rolled his eyes. "Mrs. Marla Frank. I call her Mrs. Motha F-"

I slapped Alfred on the arm. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" I hissed, as not to anger Mrs. Frank.

He smiled. "Well, _you _don't mind that mouth, apparently." He said.

"Gah! Shut up!" I said. I slapped him on the arm again.

He laughed and looked at his watch. "10:23." He stated. "What do you want to do?"

"What? It's that late?" I gasped.

He smiled. "Yeah. It is. You took _foreeeeever_ in that bath, young lady."

I hit him on the arm again. He smiled. "Someday you're going to end up in jail for abusing me."

"And I'll state that it is inhumane to let anyone stay with you." I smiled back. "Should we get to bed?"

"This early?" Alfred gasped. "No way! Let's see what's on TV!" I sighed, but Alfred pulled me over to the couch and sat me down. His TV was actually in a good state. It wasn't fuzzy and it didn't have bad sound. I guess TV is a hobby of Alfred's.

He flipped through the TV channels until we settled on making fun of a gossip show. Little by little, my head sank until it rested on Alfred's shoulder. He looked down at me and put an arm around my shoulder. He rubbed my arm until it got warm. I sighed with content. His head rested against mine. I could feel my eyelids getting heavy. I was holding a popcorn bowl in my hand. I felt it slip as I closed my eyes.

I woke up in a slight daze. It was morning. Soft yellow light filled Alfred's bedroom. I tried to get up, only to find myself in a death-grip hug by someone lying next to me. Wheezing for breath because of my crushed lungs, I pried the hands off of me and turned to face the person.

Of course, it was Alfred. He was sleeping like a baby, his head nestled in his pillow, the covers pulled up all the way to his chin. I didn't want to wake him, so I put my head down next to his and looked at him. He was actually kind of cute. I blushed at the thought I just had. But it was true. It was odd not seeing his glasses on his face, as that was what set him apart from the other men that chased after me. Hey, speaking of that… I paused to think.

Motorcycle. Glasses. Slang. Alfred was the person who saved me in the park. How could I not realize that? Maybe it was the bomber jacket that he didn't wear at the airport. I sighed. What did I expect? Of course…

I slowly got up and tried to get out of bed. Alfred reached out and grabbed my hand.

"Where are you going?" He asked. His eyes were half-closed and his voice was sleepy.

"Nowhere. I was just getting up." I said.

"It's Saturday! Stay here!" He looked up at me with his blue eyes. I crawled back under the covers. He grabbed me and pulled me into another death hug. It was when I was against his chest that I realized that he was shirtless. I fought the rising blush in my cheeks. A thought came to my mind.

"How did I get in your bed?" I asked.

"You really passed out last night. I carried you here. I was sleeping on the couch when I heard you crying." He said. He started to stoke my hair. "You were having a bad dream. When I touched your arm, you grabbed my hand and you wouldn't let it go. You kept mumbling something in your sleep and wouldn't let me go, so I ended up sleeping next to you."

I sighed. At least his excuse was better than Feli's 'loneliness' thing.

"And damn you have a body-" Alfred started. I sat up and hit him with a pillow. He laughed and smiled up at me. "Aw, don't be mad!"

I rolled my eyes. "You are horrible."

"Tony says you don't think that of me!" Alfred stated.

"Stop relying on that alien to read my mind! And what does Tony think I think about you?" I asked.

He smiled this cocky smile that made me worry. What the hell did the little gray man tell him? "C'mon. I'll make you breakfast. You look hungry."


	8. Chapter 8

Breakfast was ok. Leftover milkshakes and hard-boiled eggs were on the menu. Alfred didn't have a table, so we sat on the couch and ate in our PJs. Alfred couldn't keep me from laughing, like he always did. I felt so comfortable around him. Alfred looked at the wall clock near the door.

"Hey, let's get changed." He said, cleaning up the breakfast garbage.

"Do you need to go somewhere?" I asked.

He looked up at me. "I'm taking you to the doctor's."

"What? Why?" I said. Fear crept into my mind.

Alfred's face turned dark. "Well. There's something I need to tell you."

"What?" I demanded.

He smiled to himself. "Well, last night, you were curled up against me. God, you were so beautiful. At peace. I couldn't…I couldn't help myself…" He took a shaky breath. "I took you to the bedroom and…"

"No. No you didn't." I felt like I was going to pass out.

He looked up at me with concern in his face. "You were acting weird last night and I'm afraid:" He paused. "You might be pregnant with my child."

"No. Wait, how did this…" I slowly sat down on the couch. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Ha! Just kidding!" Alfred said. He smiled. "I want a doctor to check that chip out."

I deflated the tense energy out my nose. "Why did you think that was funny? And why do you want a doctor to see the chip?"

"1: Because I'm a good actor and I like to test my skills and 2: because it made the chip news easier for you. See how I made your life better? Also, Feliciano's game of 'win her heart then take the chip' has come to the 'take the chip' part, seeing as I already succeeded in winning your heart. I want a doctor to see it before we do anything else."

"You're an ass." I glared at him. "And you didn't win my heart."

He held up a finger to stop me from talking. "But this is about the chip when it really comes down to it."

I growled at him. It was true, though. I was his prisoner until he figured out what he wanted from me. I wasn't quite sure he knew what he was doing to begin with.

He smiled. He went to the door and tossed me a plastic shopping bag. "What's this?" I asked.

"Something for you to wear. I didn't think you'd want to wear my clothes outside." He said. "I'm getting changed. You can use the bathroom if you want."

I walked to the bathroom and looked at the clothes that Alfred got me. A flowing cream blouse and brown leggings. My own shoes would work for the day; I just had to wash the dirt off of them. I looked in the bottom of the bag. I smiled to myself. He even picked up a bra for me. He was _so _going to get an earful from me about that. I wondered if he had someone help him pick stuff out. But I was grateful for the clothes anyways. I changed and then brushed my hair. After I was done in the bathroom, I opened the door.

Alfred was waiting at the bathroom door. He nearly fell over. At first I thought he was making fun of me. I glared and demanded: "What?"

"Nothing!" He said. He smiled. "You look nice."

"Admiring your own work?" I asked.

He shrugged. "A little." He motioned for me to turn. I turned around. He motioned for me to turn again. I turned and faced the bathroom.

"What are you looking for-" I started.

He came up behind me and slowly put his hands on my waist. He smoothed the fabric out and then kept his hands on my hips. I blushed a deep red. I could feel his breath on the back on my neck. I slowly put a hand on his hand. I backed up until my back was against his strong chest. I could feel his heartbeat.

"Heh. You look great." Alfred said. He took his hands off of my waist and smiled at me. "Get ready to go." He said.

He went into the bathroom. I turned and jumped when I saw Tony at the bedroom door. "Hey Tony." I grumbled. I still held a grudge against the alien.

"_He has a crush on you." _I jumped and looked around. I thought I heard a voice, but no one was speaking. I turned to Tony.

"Did you just say…" I trailed off.

"_He has a crush on you." _ Tony turned and left the room. I felt a blush rise to my cheeks again. Ok, I was starting to like the alien, now. Something inside me made me feel warm all over. Crush? Really? I shook the daydream out of my head and sat on the couch until Alfred came.

hhhh

"Alright, Miss Natalina. Can you sit up there?" The doctor asked. I sat on the medical chair. The paper crunched underneath me. "What's the problem?"

"Well," Alfred jumped in before I could say anything. "We were in a car accident a while ago. We got away ok, but Natalina got a bad cut on her chest. It healed ok, but we think that she might have something in there from the car. Maybe glass or something."

Great job on an awful cover story, Alfred. I tried to calm myself down. This was just a check-up, right?

"Well, let's take a look." The doctor said. He pulled down the collar enough for the chip area to be seen. "Where does it hurt?"

I poked the place where the chip was. The doctor felt it. His eyes grew wide. "My God, something's in there!" He poked the chip some more.

He grabbed a stethoscope and put it in his ears. He seemed worried. I started to panic, but Alfred stood behind the doctor and motioned for me to calm down. I took a deep breath and gulped. The doctor went to put the stethoscope to my heart, but I gasped.

"No! Don't! Wait!" I said. I remembered the beeping from the chip. The doctor would find out. But it was too late. I winced as the doctor listened to my racing heart. He paused and then listened again.

"Shit! Something is beeping inside of her!" He gasped. He tried to calm down and looked at me. "We're going to take an x-ray of you, ok? If something's in there, it needs to come out because it's in a dangerous spot, ok?" He was panicking more than me.

"Wait, no x-ray." I started.

"That would be great." Alfred said. "I would like that thing to be out of her chest."

I glared at him. He didn't know how much this chip meant to me. The doctor asked a nurse to prepare an x-ray. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to another room to get changed. I yelped with surprise.

"Hey, hey!" Alfred told the doctor. "I'll take care of her. Don't grab her like that."

"She needs surgery_ now_!" The doctor told Alfred. "We need to find where that thing inside her is so we can remove it."

"Wait, _now_?" I said. "Why does it have to get done _now_?"

"Because at any moment, that thing could rip open your heart and kill you!" The doctor said. Drama queen. "And God knows why it's beeping."

"Just let go of me." I said. He pulled me to a nurse and handed me off. She gave me a plastic smile.

"It's going to be ok, sweetie." She said in a voice that you would use for a small child.

"Wait, can I-" I started.

"Honey, you need to get changed." The nurse dragged me to a changing room. She handed me some hospital clothes and told me to get dressed. She motioned to a small room to get changed in.

"Please, can I-" I started again.

"You can't waste that much time, honey." The nurse said. She turned to Alfred, who had trailed behind the nurse and me. "Are you family?" She asked him.

"No. I'm not." Alfred said.

"You'll have to wait in the waiting room." She said. "Unless you're family."

"We've been dating for 3 years." Alfred blurted. "Does that count?"

She gave him another fake smile while I glared at him. "No, hon. You'll have to leave now."

"Wait! I don't want this done!" I cut in. "Can I wait for the x-ray?"

"But we need to operate on you soon." The nurse said. "Now get changed, sweetheart."

"No! I-" I started. The nurse nearly pushed me into the small changing room. The fearful rabbit inside of me started to come out. I felt threatened. "Alfred!" I said.

"Hey, can I please stay with her?" Alfred asked again.

"Please wait in the waiting room." The nurse said. "We don't have time for this."

"That's it! I'm out of here!" I said. I pushed pass the nurse. "I don't want surgery and I don't like the way people here are treating me."

"Don't you want to live?" She said, grabbing my arm.

"Get off me!" I yelled.

A few other nurses came and tried to soothe me. One pushed Alfred out of the way. I tried to explain to them, but the more I talked, the more they cooed back.

"Aw, do you want to go sleepy-sleepy?" One nurse asked in a childish voice. "Are you scared of the x-ray?"

"Please! Just let me-" I started.

Another nurse came over with a needle in her hand. "Why don't you sleep while we do this? You won't feel a thing!" She cooed.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Alfred tried to push his way into the crowd of nurses, but they pushed him back again.

"They're trying to put me under!" I yelled to him. I struggled to get out of the nurses' grasp. They all tried to hold me down so the nurse holding the needle could poke me with it. I hated needles. I went for a flu shot when I was young and I nearly passed out. I dove out of the crowd and backed up. Alfred stood between the mob of nurses and me.

"Let's all calm down." Alfred said. I backed up some more.

"Down let her get away!" One nurse said.

"It's ok, sweetie! You're going to be fine! Just don't run." Another one said.

Alfred turned to me. He was close enough to say something that the nurses couldn't hear.

"You're going to be fine." Alfred said. "I've got to do paperwork before they can operate on you." I kept backing up.

"Don't. Run." Alfred said. "It's going to be ok."

A small whimper escaped my throat.

"I'm here. It's ok." Alfred said. He slowly offered me a hand. I took it.

"Just don't let them hurt me." I whispered in a shaky voice. "They won't listen to me."

The doctor stormed out of the x-ray room and yelled at the nurses. He filled them in on what was important about getting me in for an x-ray on time. I backed up again, dragging Alfred with me.

"It's fine! They're not going to hurt you." Alfred said.

All the nurses panicked over what the doctor told them. They all came running at me, chirping away in songbird voices.

"Aw, you two are so sweet!" One nurse said. "Honey, could you make your girlfriend go sleepy-sleepy with this needle?"

Alfred paused.

"Don't you dare." I warned him.

"Relax." Alfred said. A nurse pushed a needle in his hand. "It's just an x-ray, I guess." He raised the needle to stab me in the arm.

"Do you know what you're doing?" I hissed.

"Do you know what's on that chip?" Alfred asked me.

In a daring, lion-mode move, I took the needle from Alfred. I was about to stab him with it, bit I didn't have the heart. Instead, I turned and stabbed the nearest person, which was the doctor. All the nurses screamed. I made eye contact with Alfred and hoped my eyes said something along the lines of: "Bye".

I ran for it. Out the hospital doors and around the building. I heard Alfred and the nurses run after me, but I rounded a corner and lost them. I took a deep breath and turned.

Something covered my mouth and nose. A cloth? I gasped for air and tried to turn. A hand clamped down over my mouth.

"I'm going to kill you for what you did earlier." A voice hissed in my ear. My vision went blurry and I passed out.


	9. Chapter 9

_*****I apologize that Tony doesn't have a potty mouth. It was for the rating.**_

_**I apologize for any bad grammar and/or spelling. They will be fixed.**_

_**Warnings: Angry German, some swearing and Prussia. 'Nuff said. :^) **_

_**I do not own Hetalia. I do not own Arthur, Feliciano or Alfred, although I wish I did- *shot* *** **_

I slowly opened my eyes. I was staring at a bright lamp hung over the bed. The bed wasn't anymore than a cot with a smelly pillow. I slowly sat up. I wasn't sore, so I guess I wasn't beaten. Oh, that's right. Chloroformed cloth. Where was I, anyways?

I looked around the room. It was big and made of cement, with a furnace in the corner of the room. A bookshelf with various items took up the wall space across from me. Right next to the shelf was a small staircase. I guessed I was in a basement or a comfy prison. I hoped it was a basement.

I started to get up when I found my right hand handcuffed to the edge of the cot. I growled. Someone actually planned it out so I wouldn't run away. I hate smart people. I tugged at it to see if it would magically fall apart. No luck. I examined it to see if I could escape from it. No luck, again.

I jumped when I heard someone coming down the stairs. It was that Ludwig man that Feliciano talked about. I sat up straight and watched him. He had a metal tray in his hands with food on it and a glass of water balanced on one side of the tray. He glared at me and put the tray on the cot.

"Enjoying your stay?" The man gruffed.

"It's ok." I said. I pulled on the handcuffs and said in a sarcastic voice: "I think they should be fuzzy."

The German nearly fell over. "What did you say?" He yelled.

"Besides, I thought _you _were supposed to be the one in chains. At least that's what Feliciano said-"

"Shut up!" Ludwig yelled. He glared at me. "Unlike the others, I'm not afraid to hit someone."

I laughed. "But you'd never hit a woman. Besides, I have the chip, remember?" I smiled. "It's hard to take something if you've pissed someone off, right?"

Ludwig growled. He pointed to the wallpaper glue – sorry, mashed potatoes – on the tray. "I brought you food." He said.

"What do you want me to do?" I looked at the food. "Re-bind the books on that shelf?" I nodded my head to the bookshelf across from me.

"Just eat it!" The German yelled. "It's the only food you're going to eat today!"

"Great, I'm glad it will last me so long. It'll probably stick to the wall of my stomach." I said.

Ludwig took a deep cleansing breath and then looked at me. "Why. Do. You. Hate. Me?"

"Because the last time we met, you tried to kill me!" I yelled.

"I would never kill a woman." Ludwig stated. "I tried to make you surrender."

"Really? Because in WWII, I think the Germans-" I started.

"_I had nothing to do with that! Do not mock my country's past or people!" _Ludwig yelled.

I suddenly coughed. It was from the sudden jump of my heart. I wiped a little blood off of my mouth and turned to the German. "Do not underestimate me. Do not threaten me. Don't do either of those things and I won't mock your people or country." I said.

The German turned away. "Fine. Settled." He said.

"WEEEEEEST! I'M HOOOOMME!" Someone upstairs yelled. The German swore under his breath.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"That would be my-" Ludwig started.

"Woah! West! What's with the woman handcuffed to my bed?" Someone pounded down the stairs. He had red eyes, white hair and had a lanky, lean body. It was the first time I've ever seen a human albino.

"-_Mein bruder_." The German groaned.

"It's not my b-day yet! What a nice gift! I knew I loved you for a reason!" The other man yelled, a smile on his face.

"No, _bruder_, you got it wrong-" Ludwig tried to say.

The other man ran across the room and jumped at high speed onto the bed. I yelped.

"Hi girly, I'm the awesome Gilbert! I assume my brother already paid you, so-"

"Ew! No! Stop! Wait!" I yelled. "I'm not a hooker!"

Gilbert frowned. "You got me a virgin for a pressie? It's ok, I guess…"

"No!_ Bruder_! Off!" The German pulled the other one off of the bed.

"Why pull me away from my gift?" The man cried.

"She's not for you!" The German yelled.

"You have your own bed, you know." Gilbert said.

"_Nein_! She's not for either of us! She's the girl who has the chip that can tell us how to rule the world!" The German said.

"Oh, so she's a hooker with power! Nice! I'm getting excited already-"

Ludwig literally threw the albino up the stairs. "Don't come back unless you have anything good to say! Make dinner instead!"

There was a grumble of the words "If you mess up my bed I'm gonna kill you!" and the slamming of a door.

Ludwig rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry about my _bruder_. He's ok most of the time."

"Don't worry. I also have an older brother." I said.

"I didn't say my brother was older." Ludwig raised an eyebrow.

"You two act like it." I said. "I know the routine from my brother. He's in charge because he's older, then the power gets to his head and then the younger ones take over the responsibility of the older ones."

"Join the club." Ludwig grumbled. I gave him a weak smile and used my foot to bring the food closer to me. I used my free hand to take a sip of water and then another bite of mashed potatoes. Ludwig watched my every move.

"I'm not a food critic, if that's what you think." I said.

"I just want to make sure you don't vomit. It would be a lot of work to clean up." Ludwig stated.

"Hate your own cooking that much?" I said. I took another sip of water.

"How is it?" Ludwig asked. I smiled.

"You released the starch in the potatoes." I said. "But the milk in it helped hide that."

"Are you a cook?" Ludwig asked.

"Not really, but my mother taught me how." I said. I took another sip of water. I was thirsty.

"Professor Vivian Ayers?" Ludwig ventured. Water came flying from my mouth. I gagged and coughed up blood and water. Ludwig backed up when I violently exploded.

"How do you know my mom?" I gasped in a ragged voice.

"She was known throughout the world. Her theories are some of the best." Ludwig stated.

I looked away. "Yeah, that's her."

"So you are…?" Ludwig cocked his head.

"Natalina." I said.

"Natalina Ayers?"

I sighed. "That's me."

"It is very nice to meet you." Ludwig said stiffly.

"Nice to meet you." I purposely stuck out my chained hand as if to shake hands. "Oh, wait, my hand is _chained to a bed._" I stated.

"That was in case you ran away!" Ludwig defended.

"I'm glad you think so highly of me." I said.

"Eat your dinner." Ludwig ordered.

I nodded slowly. He watched me take one more spoonful of potatoes and then went upstairs.

It was only after a few minutes did I hear someone yell: "WHAT, WEST?"

I listened into the conversation.

"SHE'S TAKING MY BED? WHERE WILL _I _SLEEP?"

"You can take the couch. She needs a place to stay,"

"PUT _HER _ON THE COUCH!"

"I can't put her on the couch."

"WHY NOT?"

"There's no place to chain her! She might run away."

"I'm not going to run away. Gilbert can have his bed." I called up.

I heard footsteps. Gilbert and Ludwig can down. Gilbert ran over to me while Ludwig stood at the door.

"Thank you! Thank you hot girly!" Gilbert gasped. "Now give me my bed!"

I smiled. "It's up to Ludwig. I'm just telling you that I'm fine with moving."

Gilbert looked at Ludwig hopefully. Ludwig rolled his eyes. "Fine. She'll take my bed. I'll take the couch."

Gilbert kissed me roughly on the cheek. "Thank you, hot girly!"

"She has a name." Ludwig said.

"Oh, you care?" Gilbert gave his brother a wicked smile.

Ludwig came over to me and undid the handcuffs. I rubbed my sore hand and nodded to Ludwig. "Thanks." I mumbled.

Ludwig showed me upstairs to his bedroom. "That's the bed. That's the bathroom. Mess anything up and I'll kill you in your sleep."

"Lovely. The first thing I will do is spill toothpaste on the floor." I stated.

"Just…I give up!" Ludwig growled. He threw a bag my way. I opened it up. It was the clothes that I left at Feli's house. And my iPod.

"Feliciano heard that I have you, so he sent that over." Ludwig said. He also tossed me a shirt and shorts. "Use those to sleep in. _Gute Nacht_." He turned and left. I closed the door behind him.

I changed into the wife-beater shirt and the workout shorts that Ludwig gave me. After putting my clothes to the side, I crawled into the bed, which was a king size to accommodate for Ludwig's shoulders. The sheets were really soft and fluffy. I thought I would become lost when the covers buried me. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

"_Mein Gott, bruder_! She's so cute! Can I keep her?" Someone yelled. I woke up with a start. Gilbert smiled at me, the door to Ludwig's room wide open. "Hey there, cutie! I came to wake you up!"

Ludwig grabbed his brother by the collar of Gilbert's shirt and pushed him away. "Leave her alone, Gilbert." He sighed and came into the room, closing the door behind him.

I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"_Guten Morgen_, Miss Ayers." Ludwig said.

"Call me Natalina, Nat or Nattie, but don't call me Miss Ayers. It sounds too formal." I yawned. I stretched, the wife-beater shirt loosely hanging from my shoulders. I turned to Ludwig, who turned away and blushed.

"I'm sorry. I have caught you while you are indecent. I should leave." Ludwig said.

I didn't have an answer for Ludwig, but when I opened my mouth to say something, he cut in and said: "Breakfast will be ready soon."

Breakfast was some sausages and eggs, which Ludwig had made. Gilbert had finished before Ludwig and I and decided to interrogate me out of boredom.

"So, what's your life like?" Gilbert asked.

"Running away from people like you." I said. "It's become a daily routine."

"Why?" Gilbert asked.

"Because I don't want them to have the chip." I said.

"Why?" Gilbert repeated.

"Because I don't want them to rule the world." I said.

"Why?"

"Because one person ruling the world is a bad thing."

"Why?"

"Because it unbalances the world order."

"Why?"

"Because one person is ruling the world."

"Why?"

"Because they got the chip."

"Why?"

"Because I used the head of an albino to hide the chip in since I had the cut off head already impaled on a pike."

Gilbert gulped. Ludwig chuckled, which made his brother glare at him. I smiled to myself.

"So, what's your family like?" Gilbert asked.

"No comment." I said. "I can't tell you about them. Private stuff."

"Fine." Ludwig said. "I'll go: what's on that chip?"

I bit my lip before answering. "Powerful stuff."

"That's it?" Gilbert yelled. "Well, what kind of stuff?"

"Is it a video? Document? Blueprints?" Ludwig asked.

I looked Ludwig in the eyes. "Documents. Maps. Blueprints. A lot of stuff."

"What is on the maps and documents and blueprints?" Ludwig asked.

"No comment." I said, a small smile played on my lips.

I suddenly felt something grab my rear. I yelled and smacked Gilbert's hand away.

"_Bruder_!" Ludwig yelled.

"Hey, I'm just testing something out!" Gilbert said. "Your cute Italian friend said that there's a game going on about this girl."

I groaned. If Gilbert knew about this game, then the world would end.

"I know about that game. Feli told me." Ludwig said.

"So is it true?" Gilbert asked me. "If we win your heart, you'll give us the chip?"

"I didn't say anything about that!" I stated. "Feli started it! And he pushed his tongue down my throat; of course I told him more about the chip!"

"I can do that too!" Gilbert declared.

"_Nein, bruder_!" Ludwig said. "You're not supposed to be after the chip!"

Gilbert pouted.

"Aw, Gilbert can't play?" I gave Ludwig a fake pout.

"No! He can't! He was already part of a strong empire. He can't gain power. He had his chance." Ludwig glared at his older brother.

"But West can! He can play!" Gilbert said. He laughed like a loon. "Make Ludwig play this game! Oh, he'd lose so hard! Ha! Ludwig! Win a girl's heart! That's so funny!"

"Shut up, _bruder_." Ludwig said. He turned to me. "This game is all a lie, right?"

I gave him a coy smile. "Well, seeing that you were rather mean to me…"

"No. No!" Ludwig slowly stood up from the table. Gilbert fell off his chair laughing. "You are so screwed, West! Haha!"

"I am not the man for silly child games!" Ludwig yelled over his brother's laugh.

"But why should I give the chip to someone who can't be a gentleman?" I asked.

Ludwig had steam coming out of his ears. I smiled.

Then he grabbed me by my arm and pushed me into my room. I growled at him.

"Don't come out until you can put the idea of a silly love game out of your head!" Ludwig yelled in anger. He slammed the door shut. After he left, I kicked the door in anger. I'd rather put up with Arthur's strictness, Alfred's deathly motorcycle or Feliciano's pasta than put up with_ this_ guy. I took a deep breath and sat on the edge of my bed. I had to keep calm. No one, out of the three guys I met so far, had taken the chip. I could do the same thing for Ludwig. He had to understand that my mother's work was dear to me. She trusted me with the most powerful information in the world. I needed, no, I was _ordered _to protect this information.

I got changed into the t-shirt and jeans that I bought before I went to Feli's house. It wasn't anything special. But if, _if_, I had to run, these were the best clothes.

I sat on my bed and looked up at the ceiling. I just thought about a compromise between the German and me. I wasn't going to give him the chip for free.

"Are you ready?" Someone called.

"Come in, Ludwig." I called back. I sat up and crossed my arms.

Ludwig came into the room and shut the door behind him. "I'm sorry I lost my temper." He said. "My brother makes it hard to stay calm."

"Kick him out?" I offered.

Ludwig shook his head. "I made a deal with him. He'll put food in the fridge and keep a job and I'll give him a roof over his head."

I nodded.

"But you didn't make it any better!" He went on. "You could have played it calm. Then you wouldn't be locked in your room."

"I expected this." I said. Ludwig looked surprised.

"I expected someone to torture me in a dungeon, my hands chained to a wall. I was conditioned to take that." I said.

"Conditioned?" Ludwig raised an eyebrow.

I put a hand to my heart. "This chip can tell you _how to rule the world_. For years, I've been conditioned to think that powerful people were always going to be after the chip. Somehow, I would find a way to escape. I couldn't let those people get the chip. The treatment in this house is better than I thought."

"Why were you even trusted with this chip?" Ludwig asked.

I smiled to myself. "My mother told me she would explain it in her next letter to me."

"Is she still alive? What do you mean by letters?"

"No. My mother is not alive. She died when I was eight." I said quietly.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Ludwig said.

"It's not your fault she died. We don't know who killed her." I explained the birthday letters to Ludwig.

"So she told me that my 20th birthday letter was going to tell me why I have the chip in me. She always trusts that I'll be able to handle certain information at different times." I finished.

Ludwig nodded his head slowly. "Interesting. When is your birthday?" I thought for a minute.

"My birthday is next month." I said.

Ludwig nodded his head again.

"Do you mind if I ask something?" I said.

"What do you want to ask?"

I paused. "How did you guys find out about the chip?"

Ludwig took a deep breath. "Everyone wondered what happened to Professor Ayers' work. She had famous lectures. When she stopped her lectures, we all wondered what happened to her."

"She was clubbed to death with something made of lead." I told him.

"You saw her body?" He asked.

"No. But the bloody lock of hair with a bit of lead in it was more than enough proof for us." I said. "Please, go on about how you found out."

Ludwig went on. "I was the one to find out about some sort of chip. It was hard and long to find out, but all the evidence led me to one phone number. I thought it would be the government, or something like that, but it was the phone of one man. He told me about a girl who had the chip. He told me you were going on a date in the next few days. I told Feliciano and he spread the news like wildfire. That's why everyone tracked you from your date to the park."

"Who was this person?" I asked.

"He told me not to tell anyone about him." Ludwig said.

"You don't understand." I said. "I'm the one with the chip. If someone found out about it, I need to know. I need to know where I leaked information."

Ludwig thought for a second before answering: "Bradley Suniki."

My blood went cold. My face turned pale. My hands got clammy and my knees turned to jelly. I ran into the bathroom and coughed up about a liter of blood into the sink. My heart was racing and my head was spinning. It couldn't be. Not Bradley Suniki.

"Are you alright? Should I get a doctor?" Ludwig asked, standing besides me. I grabbed the edge of the sink.

"No! Don't get anyone!" I said. My breath sounded like someone slurping the last bit of soda though a straw. I coughed again.

"What's wrong?" Ludwig asked.

"It's the chip. This is normal." I rasped again. "His name can't be Bradley Suniki."

"That's what he told me." Ludwig said.

"What was his number?" I asked. I coughed again.

Ludwig thought. "849-550-6937." He said.

I gasped and ran to the toilet. I heaved up breakfast. Ludwig ran and knelt besides me.

"Are you sure I can't get anyone? What's wrong?" He asked.

"Don't get anyone." I said. "That number…that number…" I heaved again and then started to cry. Of all the surprising things that I learned, this was the most surprising and heartbreaking.

"What? What's wrong?" Ludwig asked.

"That's my brother's cell phone." I said, gripping the edge of the toilet. I coughed once more and continued to cry.

"But isn't your brother's last name Ayers?" Ludwig asked.

"Yes. It is. But when Brad was young, he always wanted to draw comics. He came up with his own version of Superman. But his character's human name was Harold Suniki. That _bastard_ changed his name on the phone." I coughed again and cried some more. "My own brother sold me out! He lied to me! He pretended he didn't know a thing about the chip! _God damnit!_" I broke down sobbing and leaned against the toilet.

Ludwig gathered me in his arms and held me to him. I accidently coughed on him, red blood on one small area of the green wife-beater he always seemed to wear. I turned to cough into the toilet while saying: "My God, I'm sorry." But Ludwig held me to him.

"It's ok. Don't worry. I don't mind." He said. In the safety of his strong arms, I cried and sometimes coughed into his chest. After my sobs became soft whimpers, Ludwig grabbed a nearby washcloth and wiped off the blood and tears on my face.

"You can have the chip." I bitterly said.

"I know you don't mean it. Why do you say that?" Ludwig asked.

"Because the world already ended for me." I whispered.

I closed my eyes and leaned against Ludwig. And there, on the bathroom floor, in his arms, I mentally said a requiem for the sibling bond between my brother and me.

I was in my room, curled up in Ludwig's bed. He put me there and made sure I was cozy before he left to tell his confused brother about what happened. I just stared at the ceiling until Ludwig came in.

"Can I make you some lunch?" He asked. "You can have it in here. I don't…I don't care if you spill anything."

"I'm not hungry." I said.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked.

"No." I replied. Ludwig nodded and left.

I sat alone in misery until later on that day. I closed my eyes and thought about Brad and how great he was until I heard someone open the door and close it behind them.

"Yo girly! Are you going to stay in here all day?" Gilbert came over to the bed and crossed his arms.

"I'm just not up for moving." I told him.

"Are you hurting?" He asked.

"No." I said.

"Then you can get up. Even with a heartache." He said. He pointed to the windows that were drawn closed so no light could get in. "Get up and open the curtains."

"I can't." I said.

"Why not?" Gilbert demanded. "Are you hurt?"

"No." I said.

"Get up and open the curtains." Gilbert said again. "That's an order."

I slowly got up and opened the curtains. I turned to Gilbert.

He smiled. "See? You can walk, even with a broken heart." He said softly.

I looked out on the bright afternoon. "I can't believe he did that." I said. "My own brother betrayed me."

"Yeah, it sucks." Gilbert said. He sat on the bed and motioned me to join him. I sat down next to him.

"He's a disgrace to older brothers everywhere." Gilbert said. "They should protect the younger ones. I'm saying this because I'm an awesome older brother."

I smiled. "Thanks. At least I'm not the only one who thought that."

"That your brother's an ass or I'm awesome? Please say both." Gilbert said.

I laughed. "Yeah. Both." I said.

"Well, that's good!" Gilbert said. "I know this is going to be hard, but I want you to forget him."

"But he's my brother!" I said, on the verge of more tears.

"I know." Gilbert said. He brushed my shoulder as if he was removing dirt. "I'm sorry. It looked like you had some misery on you. I wanted to get that off of you."

I smiled. "Are you always like this?"

"Always awesome? Yeah, I am." Gilbert's chest puffed out. I laughed.

"C'mon. You need some air." He pulled me up. We walked out into the living room. Ludwig smiled at me from the kitchen and came over to us.

"Can you come with us?" Ludwig asked.

"What do you need? Where are we going?" I asked.

"We're going to go shopping for dinner. You're going to help us cook." Ludwig said.

Shopping was mostly pulling both brothers off of the beer in the store. After a while of deciding what to eat, we settled on sausages and potatoes. Again. Everything in the store that made me think of Brad made me burst into tears. I ended up curling up against Ludwig or Gilbert while the other brother waved all the onlookers off.

I taught them both how to really make mashed potatoes. They were already good at sausages and it didn't take long before dinner was ready.

"These are nearly as awesome as me!" Gilbert cried overdramatically through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"I know." Ludwig said.

I smiled at both the brothers. "Thanks. I love to cook."

That night, curled up in bed, I used Ludwig's phone. I called my brother, but all I got was a message machine.

"Brad, it's Nattie. Call me. Please." I took a deep breath. "I need to talk to you about something. I think someone called you and you answered as Bradley Suniki. I need to know if-"

"Message is too long. Please hang up to leave current message or press 1 to redo message." The machine said.

I sighed. It took a lot to even say what I just said. So I hung up and hoped he understood. I could barely talk to him anyways. I hoped he would pick up the phone and tell me right away what happened.

I put the phone down and curled up in bed. A small tear ran down my face and I closed my eyes. I opened them up again when I felt someone laying down next to me. I propped myself up on my elbows and looked at Ludwig, who was next to me.

"I'm not doing this for that asinine game of Feliciano's." Ludwig said. "I'm doing this because…because…" He looked away. "It's not right for a heartbroken girl to be in a new house in a new room by herself when she has so much on her mind. So I'm staying here for the night to…" He blushed. "To keep you company and let you know that…that you're not alone. If you want me to go-"

I answered by putting my head on his shoulder. I closed my eyes and sighed. "Thanks, Ludwig."

He carefully wrapped an arm around me and looked up at the ceiling as I slowly fell asleep.

I woke up in the early morning, curled up in a fetal position next to Ludwig, who had an arm around me. He was snoring softly. I put my head on his chest and felt it rise and fall with his breathing. My throat was dry and I coughed lightly. Ludwig jumped and turned to me.

"Are you alright? You're still coughing." Ludwig asked.

"I'm fine." I said. I grabbed a nearby water bottle and took a sip for my dry throat.

Ludwig sighed and leaned back. He froze when I put my head on his chest. Then he lifted his hand and put it around me.

"Thank you for staying here." I said.

"It was nothing." Ludwig blushed.

"It meant a lot to me." I said.

I snuggled closer to Ludwig. He took a hesitant hand and put it on my leg. At first, I caught my breath, but he pushed my leg down so I wasn't in a fetal position anymore. He looked at me.

"I-I just…I would…" he turned away, blushing.

"What?" I asked.

"I want you closer to me." He said in a quick breath. He pulled me until I was pressed against his side. He suddenly jumped and quickly said: "Unless- unless you don't want me to. I'll stop."

I put a finger to his lips and watched him struggle for words. I smiled. "Stay here." I said.

Ludwig was quiet before suddenly taking a deep breath and growling: "_Gottverdammt_! He took my face in his hands and looked me in the eyes. He kissed me roughly on the lips. I gasped but leaned into the kiss. He gave me several small kisses on my lower lip.

"_Ich_ – _Liebe_ – _Dich_ – Nata – lina" He said between kisses.

"Ah – oh – I – Lud – wig – uh –" Was all I could say. Like I said, I'm a loser when it comes to love. Ludwig pressed himself into me. I gave a soft moan. Ludwig stopped and looked at me. I looked up at him and smiled. His hair was messy and it wasn't gelled back. I played with a lock of his hair between my fingers.

He slowly rubbed my waist and leaned down again for another kiss.

"Damn that Italian. He even has _me _playing these love games!" The German growled.

"I guess I'm an easy game to play." I gave a nervous laugh.

"No! Don't ever say that!" Ludwig said. "You're not an easy game! You're…you're…" He sighed. "_Gott,_ now I know why all the others are after you. You're…You're…You're addicting." He said. I blushed. He buried his head in my hair and sighed. "I just want you to stay here. With me." He said.

"I don't know what to think." I whispered. "So many people have had so many…different thoughts about me. I just – I just, I don't –"

Ludwig kissed me again. "And rightly so. You are beautiful. And wonderful. And you have the best laugh. And the best smile. And the best…God, everything!"

I blushed a deeper red. Ludwig held me closer to him. He leaned down and cradled my cheek in his hand.

"Don't ever change." He whispered. "Ever."

He slowly rubbed my hip again. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Woah! Dude! Hang something on the door! _Mein Gott!_ Agh! My eyes!" Someone yelled. Both Ludwig and I jumped. Gilbert wrinkled his nose from his place at the door. "I wanted to wake you two up for breakfast, but forget it! Ugh! I'm not hungry!"

_*****LOOOONNNGG chapter! :^) **_

_**My computer wasn't getting on the internet, so about three chapters were combined into this one. **_

_**Right! Noties! **_

_**Note 1: I didn't really describe Natalina's features. I hoped that the fangirls would make Natalina her own, whether she looks like a fangirl or a different person. I have my own version of Natalina in my mind. :^) **_

_**Note 2: I know I'm not really describing **_**what **_**the Healita countries are. I felt I was creeping too close to **_**HETA by **_**BFTLandMWandSEK**__**, another GREAT fanfic! Go and read it! I love it! I came up with the idea of **_**Tell Me This is a Dream **_**on my own, but I didn't want to have copyright problems. I consider it rude and disrespectful to other authors to copy his or her stories and I hope I'm treated with the same respect. I'll come up with something for the Hetalia cast later on and add it to the story. **_

_**Note 3: Thanks to all the quizzes and fanfics to help me with Ludwig love! I'm an Arthur fangirl, so I had no clue what to do with Ludwig… I hope I satisfied the Ludwig fangirls. **_

_**Note 4: Hint for the next chapter! How do you guys feel about complete pervs?**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Warning! Warning! Warnings: FRANCE! BE WARNED! ***__**Evil Grin* **_

Three days passed since Ludwig kidnapped me from Alfred. I got used to Gilbert's and Ludwig's way of living and slowly settled into their home. I was out shopping for dinner that night.

I was deciding what brand of sausage the brothers would like the best. I saw someone stick a cut of meat in front of me.

"Why don't you try some of this?" Someone purred in my ear. I jumped and backed up. I looked at the man in front of me.

He looked like he was in his late twenties, but the stubble on his chin made him look slightly older. He leaned on the horizontal fridge where I was standing. I looked at the filet mignon that he was holding.

"No thanks." I said. I put the sausages in my shopping cart and grumbled to myself when the man followed me like a puppy.

"Aw, you have someone you are cooking for?" The man asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes. I do."

"_Je voudrais vous voir a poil_!" The man said. He grabbed my rear in the middle of the store.

"I beg your pardon!" I yelled.

He put a finger to his lips. "Please, quiet, _madame._" He said.

I stormed away from the man and went to the checkout line. It was done quickly and I went to pay for it. The man waved me off and gave the money to the lady at the checkout. He gave her a wink and took me by the arm, slinging the bag of sausages over his shoulder. I grabbed the bag and stormed out. He followed me again.

"_Madame? _Why do you run away from me?" He asked.

"You perv! Get away from me!" I said.

He followed me to the car. "I'm not that kind of person, _madame! _I am not a bad person!

I growled at him and opened my car door and put the bag in the car. I slammed the door and turned to the man. "Get. Away." I said.

He gave me a coy smile. "I think you have something that I want." He said. My heart dropped.

"You're after the…" I started.

"Chip? _Oui, madame._" The man said.

"Get away!" I yelled. "Don't come near me!"

He smiled yet again. "_Non, madame_." He grabbed my arm and pulled me to the next car over. I screamed and yelled and tried to get people to see. But in this day and age, people will overlook a lot of things that they see.

He had, yes, a white van. He pushed me in the back. I slammed myself against the doors when he closed them. I screamed again and then paused to cough. My lungs and heart hadn't fully recovered from the incident concerning my brother.

I sat down in the van as soon as I heard it start up. I buried my head in my hands and started to cry. Every time I got used to a new place, someone took me away again. I coughed into my hand and looked at the red blood with the little light that came from under the doors of the van. I kicked the van wall and cried some more. Damn life.

"_Madame, _we're here. I – oof!" The man didn't have time to finish, because I slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. I got up and started to run, but I found myself in a garage with the door down. I paused. It was enough time for the man to pull me away and into his house.

I kicked and screamed, but the man was able to pull me inside and sit me on his _Recamier_ couch. I panted from the effort of running and gave a soft moan of defeat. I guess that turned him on, because he smiled and ran a hand through my hair. I slapped it away and stood up.

"_Ma belle! _Don't run! Please." The man purred. I stopped in my tracks. He slowly got up and came over to me. He cradled my cheek in his hand and brushed against me. "I'll get some wine. Please, sit down." I growled at him. I could feel him smile. "You're not going anywhere. You might as well."

He walked pass me and went into the huge kitchen in another room. I slowly sat on the couch, looking for windows or doors. But by the time the man came back, I hadn't found anything.

He sat down next to me and poured me a glass of dark red wine.

"I can't drink." I quickly said.

He smiled. "You're in France, _ma belle_. How old are you? 20?"

"19." I said.

"The drinking age is 18 here. Have some wine." He gave me the wine glass. I became uneasy when he leaned into me, his own wine glass in his hand. He took a slow sip and watched me as I drank just a drop.

"This is some of the finest French wine." The man purred. "You don't like it?"

"I'm just not used to alcohol." I said. Not like other people in my family weren't, but I didn't feel like giving my life story to this pervert.

"Ah, _madme._" The man said. "Relax and drink." He ran a hand through my hair and leaned against me. He gave a soft moan as he took another sip of wine. "You are so beautiful." He said in my ear.

I pushed him away. "Look, I don't care who you are. You're not going to seduce me with what I bet you think is Feliciano's game."

"But I've been waiting so long to play this game!" The man whined.

"Enough!" I yelled. I tried to stand up, but the man crushed himself against my shoulder and put an arm around my waist, trapping me against the couch.

"_Madame. _You cannot run." He said. He gave a smile. "By the way, I am Francis. I don't know your name."

"Natalina." I snapped. "Now let me go."

Francis finished off his wine and took my wine out of my hand. "Well, then, if you won't go for wine…"

He slowly pressed himself into me, forcing me to go onto my elbows. I turned to face him, which was my first mistake. He grabbed my hands. I landed on the couch with a thud. He held my hands above my head and gave me a smile.

"_Fais-moi l'amour." _Francis purred.

I gave a small shout and rolled off the couch. I landed on my back. I struggled to get up. Francis, still on the _Recamier, _grabbed both my hands and pulled me up until I was eye level with him. I gave a small whimper. Francis stood up and pulled me up with him. He pressed me against himself and smiled at me.

Then he picked me up over his shoulder and marched me off. I gave a shout and ordered him to drop me. He did. On his bed. I wondered if he expected me or if the Frenchman's room was always like this: candles, soft French music and silk sheets on his bed. I tried to crawl away, but Francis grabbed me by my waist and pulled himself on top of me.

"Get off! Get! Off!" I yelled.

"Aw, _madame_! You're so sexy…" He breathed in my ear and made a shiver run down my spine. I made a small squeaky toy sound that made the blonde man chuckle.

"And cute." He added. I felt him run a hand down my hip and grab my leg. I gave a gasp and tried to move, but the man on top of me made it hard to go anywhere.

"Shhh." He whispered in my ear. "Hush, now. Hush." He stroked my hair, making my heart jump in my chest. I could feel the blood rising to my cheeks.

He gave a moan and roughly grabbed my leg again. I closed my eyes and pretended I was somewhere else. I needed to stay calm and find a way out of this.

"_Ma belle. _You look unhappy. Is my love not enough for you?" Francis asked.

"No. It's too much." I tried to push him off of me, but he stayed there.

"I can be more gentle." He said. He licked the outside of my ear and gave it a small nibble. I gave a small moan, which only made him more pleased.

"I don't know you!" I said.

"I know you. I know all about you from Feli. He spoke highly of you." He smiled. "He gave you your first French kiss. May I improve it?"

I opened my mouth to protest, but that was the second wrong move I made with the Frenchman. His tongue ran over mine, exploring my mouth. I nearly gagged and pushed him away. One swift blow to the kisser and the Frenchman was tumbling off the bed.

"Don't touch me!" I yelled. I went to run out the door, but Francis grabbed my arm.

"Please! Don't go!" He begged.

"Why the hell should I care?" I yelled.

"I'm a lover, not a fighter!" Francis yelled over me. He touched his red and swollen lip. He smiled. "Unlike you, whom seems to be more of a fighter."

"Shut up!" I yelled.

He grabbed me by my waist. "You're killing the mood." He said.

"I don't care! Just let me go!" I struggled some more, but the Frenchman didn't let me leave. I gave a small whimper. "Please?" I asked softly.

"Your voice melts my heart!" Francis purred. "Why don't we have some food and settle down?"

"Fine! Ok! Just don't touch me!"

Just like Feli, it was an awkward dinner air. Francis kept rubbed his leg against mine under the table. It earned him several swift kicks. He offered more wine, which I refused. If he wanted to get me drunk, it wasn't going to work.

"You look tired. You can take my bed." Francis said.

"I don't know if I can trust you to stay out of it." I glared at the man.

He gave a laugh and leaned across the table and kissed my hand. He gave me a wink and smiled. "I give you my word."

"Fine. I don't have anywhere else to go." I said.

"Good! I'll get you something to wear." He smiled.

"YOU'RE EFFING KIDDING ME!" I yelled at Francis. He frowned.

"You don't like the clothes I picked for you?"

"IT'S MADE OUT OF FREAKING LACE! THE WHOLE THING!"

"It looks nice!" Francis said.

I threw the piece of clothing on the floor. "Forget it! I'll sleep in my shirt!" I stormed off to my new room.

"Sleep well, _madame_!" Francis cooed after me.

_*****I know, short. But intense. Heh heh. It's France. Right, the next chapter is an odd character, but I was listening to a song that reminded me of him and I had to add him to the list of characters! You'll see soon enough!*****_


	11. Chapter 11

_*****Warnings: More France and a little bit of someone new. :^)*****_

I had locked the door to my room to prevent Francis from coming in at night. I unplugged the stupid radio and blew out all the candles. The next day, Francis was no better than he was last night. When we weren't eating his food, we were struggling on his bed. Me, trying to get away and Francis trying to make me stay.

"Admit it, you like this." He purred in my ear at about lunchtime. He was struggling to try and get my shirt off and I was preventing him from doing so.

"NO! I don't! Get off!" I said.

Frustrated with trying to compromise with me, Francis grabbed my hands and pulled them over my head. He smiled at me.

"Indulge." He whispered. "Feed your senses. Don't you like the feeling of skin against skin? The beating of two hearts against each other?"

He slowly reached down and pulled my shirt up just enough to expose my belly button. He rubbed his hand against my stomach.

"Indulge. Just for a second." He said.

I closed my eyes and indulged myself. Just for a second. I really could feel his heartbeat against mine. The warmth from his hand felt good against my bare skin. I imagined myself. Indulging. With him.

Before I knew what I was thinking, I reached up and felt the back of his neck. I ran my fingers through his silky hair. I let my hand wander to his chin and feel the stubble on his face that tickled my hand. I could feel him smiling. He slowly leaned down and kissed my neck. My collarbone. I gave a moan when he hit my soft spot. I could feel his breath on my skin. His lips worked their way down to my bare mid-riff. I gulped and took a deep breath. I felt the back of his head and kept my eyes closed.

Then he undid the top button on my pants. I gasped and sat up. Francis looked up at me with his deep blue eyes.

"What is wrong, _madame_?" He asked.

"That's too far!" I said. I pulled down my shirt so it covered the once bare area.

"You are so sensitive." He purred. He pulled himself up and sat next to me. "You won't drink my wine, you won't eat my food and you won't make love to me."

"Because I don't like you!" I snapped. "You treat me like a whore! I'm not! I'm just a girl who has a freaking computer chip inside her! Why must you all run after me like this? Just kill me and take the stupid chip!" By the end of that, I was yelling and on the verge of tears.

Francis was taken aback. He gave me a soft smile. "Because no one has the heart to kill you. We'd rather play a love game than a killing game." He grew grave. "There's only one person who would kill you for the chip. We're all trying to keep you safe from him."

"Well, I'm glad you're all treating me kinder here than my own family treats me at home." I grumbled.

"Having home problems?" Francis asked. "What is wrong?"

I bit my lip before saying: "Brother betrayed me and told you all about the chip. My father's an alcoholic and probably doesn't even know I'm gone."

"You want to be remembered?" Francis asked.

"Since when were you a therapist?" I snapped.

"You don't like it that you are left alone." He said. "You don't like it that your father is probably drunk in your house right now."

I looked away. "Yeah. That's it. My brother's away at college and sometimes my father forgets I'm his own daughter. But when my brother's around when my father is drunk, my father doesn't even act drunk. Sometimes…sometimes I feel I'm the reason my father drinks." I blinked to avoid tears coming out my eyes.

"Don't feel that way. To many people, you are loved. God knows_ I_ love you." He reached around and pulled me closer to him by my shoulders. At first I didn't want to lean against him, but I gave in and put my head on his shoulder. If Francis was a cat, he'd be purring loudly with delight. I could see it on his face.

"Well, let's break and have some lunch. Then I'll _really _try to break you-"

I stuffed a pillow in his face and jumped of the bed, waltzing out the door.

That evening was quiet. Again, I locked the door so Francis couldn't get in. I crept into bed and slowly drifted off. I looked up at the ceiling. It was funny. I saw a lot of ceilings. A cream one at Arthur's house, a white one at Alfred's house and here, a grey one at Ludwig's house and a white stucco ceiling at Feli's. I started to think about the past month as I fell asleep.

I opened my eyes when I heard a creaking sound. I slowly opened my eyes. I saw something move in the shadows. I jumped up and gasped. Someone swiftly moved to me and covered my mouth.

"Shh! _Sinorita_, please. Don't move." The man said. His skin was a dark tan color and he had bright green eyes that stood out in the dim moonlight. He had brown hair that fell in his eyes. He was poised like a cat over me, his back arched so he didn't touch me, a sword in the hand that wasn't covering my mouth.

I struggled to get out of his grasp, but his hand was clamped down on my mouth.

"I'll let go…if you don't scream. Ok?" He said. He had a Spanish accent.

I nodded. He slowly uncovered my mouth, one finger at a time. He gave a smile when I didn't yell. I didn't see any point in doing so.

"There. Easy." The man slowly backed up until he was at the end of my bed. "I'm here to save you."

"Save me?" I whispered.

He nodded and gave me a crooked smile. "You don't like it here, right?"

I nodded again.

"I can help you." He said.

"How did you get in here?" I asked. As far as I knew, Francis was on the couch in the living room. It was impossible for anyone to get by without waking Francis up.

The man smiled and pointed to an open window. "Want to try it?" He asked.

I looked at the window. It was tempting. Run away from the pervert. But I didn't know what was beyond that. Maybe this guy would kill me and take the chip.

I stood up and got the clothes I could find. I put them in a leather bag that the man offered. The man sat on the windowsill and waited for me. I looked down at the ground. It was about one floor tall and wasn't a far jump. The man held out one arm (the one not holding a sword) for me. I went over to him. He wrapped his arm around me. I noticed that there was a grappling hook on the windowsill. Rope was dangling against the house. The man took the rope in the same hand as the sword and was about the jump out when Francis broke down the locked door. I didn't know he had it in him. The man smiled at Francis.

"_Hola, mi amigos_! I'm glad to see you!" The man cheerfully said.

"What are you doing!" Francis yelled.

"Taking your woman, what does it look like?" The man asked.

"You always seem to do that, Antonio." Francis growled.

"Right. I'd love to stay, but I've got places to be and women to kiss. So unless you have anything else to say, I need to go now." The man called Antonio said.

"You bastard! Give her back!" Francis ran to the window, but the man held up his sword in front of me, preventing Francis from getter any closer.

"Sorry, _mi amigos_. I've got to go now. Bye!" Antonio jumped out the window with me. I screamed as the ground came closer to us. Last minute, Antonio put a boot on the house siding, slowing us down. He gave a light jump and put me on the ground. We could hear Francis storming downstairs to confront Antonio. The tan-skinned man grabbed my arm and pulled me to his car. I jumped in the passenger side and Antonio started up the car. He backed up and made a madman K turn. He swerved to avoid hitting a tree and raced out of Francis' driveway and out into the street.

***_**Thank you everyone for all the nice reviews! Like I said, I was listening to "Livin la Vida Loca" and I HAD to add Spain, even though he's not in the Axis or Allies. But who doesn't like a sexy Spain? Anyways… **_

_**Expect lots of Spain in the next few chapters. Sorry to disappoint any Francis fangirls.**_

_**Now review before I get France and his white van! :^) **_


	12. Chapter 12

A hand on my shoulder woke me up with a start. I blinked and rubbed my eyes. The tan-skinned man smiled at me. I looked around the car. It was 5:45 AM and out in the distance I could see the sun rising. We were driving along side a beach. Early risers were jogging along the beach trails. Antonio ran a hand through his hair and looked at me from the corner of his eye.

"Are you awake?" He asked.

"I'm up. I'm up." I slowly stretched and sat up in the passenger seat. "Where are we?"

"Barcelona." He said.

"Wait, Barcelona, as in Spain?" I asked.

"That's the one." Antonio smiled.

"How long have we been driving?" I asked.

"A few hours." Antonio said. "But Europe is small. You can go through several countries in one day."

I gave a weak and tired nod and looked out on the beach again. "Wow. It's so pretty."

"I think so too." Antonio said, his green eyes glinting with both the sun as well as fond memories.

"Have you always lived here?" I asked.

"Yeah!" He smiled. "My whole life!" He rolled down the window and stuck his head out. He waved to some people on the sidewalk and shouted at them in Spanish. Both parties laughed and Antonio drove on.

I propped my hand on the armrest and looked at all the people passing by. "So, should I even talk about the chip, or is it a given?" I asked Antonio.

"_Si_. I know about it." Antonio said.

"So how long will it be until I see a Spanish doctor about removing the chip?" I asked.

"Ah, don't worry about that yet." Antonio said. "Let's get you settled in, ok?"

We drove for quiet a while. Outside of Barcelona, there was a huge estate. Larger than Arthur's. Fields of tomatoes surrounded the estate. There was a large house, no, mansion in the middle of the fields. The walls were a cream color and the roof was made of red clay tiles. There was a gravel driveway that led to the house through the fields. All the workers that were starting their work stood up and waved at Antonio. He waved back. In front of the house was a huge fountain. Workers took bottles or buckets of water and brought them out to the fields or to his or her own lips. One person even stood by a horse as the great brown animal took a drink. Chickens ran to and fro out of the way of kitchen ladies who yelled at them in Spanish. Antonio stopped the car. Someone came over and took the car keys from Antonio. He drove the car out of sight as Antonio and I walked up to the front of the house.

There were two great oak doors. Around the doors were mosaics of flowers. Even the three steps leading into the house were decorated. Two people standing at the doors opened them for us. Antonio held out his arm and I took it. I had never seen such a big house. A huge ballroom was the first thing that greeted us when we went inside. The floors were black and white tiles. White vases with great leafy plants were in either sides of the huge windows that let in light. People ran about, working to clean the floors or water the plants.

Antonio beckoned for one worker to come over. He told her something in Spanish and the worker ran off.

"What did you tell her?" I asked Antonio.

"I told her to get Aurora." He said.

"Who's she?" I asked.

He smiled. "You'll see."

Soon enough, a short, stout woman in worker's clothes came up to Antonio and me. She looked me up and down and said something to Antonio. He said something back. She huffed. She seemed to have a lot of fire in her. She was darker than Antonio and her hair was pulled up into a messy bun to keep off her face.

"What did she say?" I asked.

"She wanted to know if 'you were the woman'." Antonio said. "I told her that you were."

"They knew I was coming?" I asked. Antonio nodded.

The woman beckoned for us to follow her. She took us to what seemed to be a fitting room. Antonio sat down in a chair and watched. Several women came over to me and pecked at me like hens. Pulling my hair or clothes and talking to each other. Aurora pulled me over to a small round stand. I stood there and watched them make more notes about me. Then Aurora turned and said something to Antonio. He turned to me.  
>"She says she doesn't like your American clothes. She would like to dress you herself to her taste."<p>

"What's wrong with my clothes?" I asked. Antonio turned and asked that to Aurora, who answered in her firecracker way.

"She says that ladies shouldn't wear pants and you'll be more respected in this house if you wear clothes made by her." Antonio said.

I sighed. "Fine. She can." Antonio gave Aurora the ok and they were all off taking measurements of me.

"You see, Aurora is the den mother." Antonio said. "Everyone goes to her for problems. And if there's a problem that she can't fix, she comes to me. She's got a good tastes in fashion and is in charge of taking care of all the workers clothes." Aurora said something to Antonio that made him wince. He looked back at me. "She also keeps me in line."

Aurora came to face me. She looked me up and down once more. Then she grabbed my breasts and shook them while yelling something in Spanish. I gave a yelp. She laughed and slapped me on the arm while Antonio snorted and held back a laugh.

"What did she say?" I asked.

"She…" Antonio bit his lower lip. To avoid laughing. "She says you have small breasts and you need to drink more milk."

I blushed and turned to the Spanish lady. "I'm fine with this size!" I said.

Aurora waved me off and pointed at Antonio. She said something to me that made Antonio nearly fall off of his chair. He quickly said something to the woman, who rolled her eyes and mumbled something.

"What did she say?" I asked again.

"N-nothing!" Antonio blushed.

"She say you breasts not big enough for Toni." A younger woman said. Her accent was thick, but I heard what she said. I gave "Toni" a sideways look and raised my eyebrow.

He blushed and stated: "It's not true! I mean-uh-"

The younger woman said something in Spanish that made all the women laugh. Aurora waved her workers off, who stopped laughing and opened a huge cabinet. There were bolts of cloth in their own little holder. The women got several colors and debated about them for a while. Then they took out a wine red bolt of cloth and a gold one. Suddenly, Aurora started stripping me. I shrieked as she pulled off my shirt. I turned to Antonio, who just raised his eyebrows as if he was watching a show.

"Get out!" I yelled, holding my shirt to my chest.

"Look, I'm just-" Antonio started. I flung my shirt at him and was about to follow up with a vase, but he beat a hasty retreat and ran out of the room. I growled at him. All the women laughed. Aurora patted me on the back. The younger woman turned to me and said: "Aurora say you are first person to make Toni run out of room like that!"

I huffed. "He won't see me like this. It's rude!"

"Not to Toni!" The woman said, laughing.

I didn't know how long I spent in the fitting room with the women. They fitted me with about four dresses altogether. One was made of silk and was meant to be a nightgown, two dresses for everyday wear and one that was slim and was more like a modern, short party dress. I was sent to spend the day in my "dirty American clothes" while the ladies made the dresses. When I was pushed out of the room, Antonio wasn't there.

After asking a few workers where he was, I was able to find him sitting on a porch. The entire house was surrounded with porches. Each entrance into the house had its own porch. The one that Antonio was sitting on overlooked a garden. Roses, bluebells and other flowers decorated the huge garden. Hedges surrounded the outside boarders and a fountain was in the middle.

Antonio had a glass of lemonade in his hand. He was in worker's clothes and beads of sweat rolled down his tan face. He turned to me, his green eyes stood out from his dirty, tan face like emeralds found in the ground. He smiled at me.

"I see Aurora let you go." He said.

"Yeah. She's sewing the dresses right now." I said. I sat down next to him and looked out at the garden.

He took a pitcher of lemonade and held it up. "Do you want some?" He gave me a coy smile. "Or should I get you some milk?"

I didn't yell or anything. I just gave him a coy smile back and said: "Apparently that's what you would like, right?"

He nearly dropped the pitcher. I gave a small laugh. He winced.

"Hey, that's cruel!" He said.

I leaned in close to him and flicked his nose with my finger. "Well, it's what your _den mother_ told me in the dressing room."

Antonio muttered something in Spanish and took a sip of his drink. "Look, I've got lemonade here; take it or leave it."

I giggled and poured myself some lemonade. "Were you working?" I asked.

"_Si. _I like to be with my workers." He said. He smiled. "I also love the sun and the heat. Working in the fields is one of my favorite things to do."

"You're going to look like a dried up raisin from working in the sun all day." I said.

"Nah, I won't." He ran a hand through his hair and flashed me a smile. "I'm too good-looking to be a dried up raisin!"

"Yeah, right." I said. I took a sip of lemonade. "You own all of this?"

"Yep! House, barn, tomato fields, everything!" His chest swelled with pride.

"So you're a tomato farmer?" I asked.

"Yep! Best tomatoes in Spain! We don't use any chemicals, so they all taste fresh and full of flavor!" He boasted. He pulled a tomato from his pocket. "Want to try one?"

I smiled and took the tomato. "Do your workers know you steal from the harvest?"

He put a finger to his lips and winked at me. I smiled and took a bite.

"Mmm! This is really good!" I said.

"Thank you! They're my pride and joy! I got these fields from my father." Antonio said. "He told me to keep improving the tomatoes until we have the best tomatoes in the world." Antonio laid on his back and closed his eyes. "I think we're finally close to that goal."

"What's stopping you?" I asked. During this time, I inhaled the tomato. I threw away the tomato core on the ground.

Antonio smiled and opened one deep green eye, which looked me up and down. "One food critic."

"Just one?" I asked.

"Yep. Just one. But he's a special critic. My most trusted critic. If he doesn't like the tomatoes, no one will."

"Who is he?" I laid down next to Antonio.

"His name in Lovino Vargas."

I froze. Vargas. That name… "Is he related to Feliciano Vargas?"

"Yeah. Lovi is Feli's older brother. I heard you met the younger of the two brothers, right?"

"Yeah. That's right. I did meet Feli." I felt a tugging on my hair. I turned to see Antonio wrapping a lock of my hair around his finger, feeling the soft hair. He turned to look at me with his eyes. He gave me a half smile. I blushed and looked away.

"Lovi told me that Feliciano was quite taken with you." He said.

"Feli was very nice to me." I said.

"I can see why…" He almost seemed to be talking to himself.

I was about to say something, but Antonio moved quickly like a cat and wrapped one arm around me. I was stunned at his sudden move when I felt his breath in my ear. His fingers trailed up and down my arm as he slowly buried his head in my hair. I blushed a deep red color. Antonio brushed my hair away from my face and kissed my cheek. He slowly moved up to my ear, as if seeing how far I'd let him go. I waited to see what he would do. He kissed the outside of my ear. I waited. Then he licked it. I waited. Then he bit my ear. I took a deep breath and reached up to feel his hair. His head was warm from working. I gave a soft moan as Antonio bit down harder on my ear.

A sudden 'wack!' sound ruined the moment. Antonio grabbed his head and we both looked up at Aurora, who tapped her foot and glared at Antonio. She was holding a newspaper, which I guess is what hit Antonio.

"_Ser católico_, Antonio!" She yelled at him. Antonio jumped up and rubbed his head.

"_Si! Si!_" Antonio yelled.

She huffed and said something to him. He nodded and turned to me. "Two of your dresses are done. She wants you to try them on."

I nodded and followed the both of them to the fitting room.

The fitting room was set up with a room divider at one end. The same round stand stood in its place, with a mirror in front of it. The same group of ladies dragged me behind the room divider and started stripping me.

I jumped when I heard a low whistle. I turned around to see Antonio looking around the room divider at me.

"_Hola, senorita!_" He said, winking at me.

Even though I was still in a bra and panties, I still felt really exposed. I threw my pants at him. "Get out!" I yelled.

He pried the garment off his face and smiled. "I am a young man with needs. I- oof!"

My shoe hit him square in the face. He backed up and grumbled something. All the women laughed and cooed out to Antonio in Spanish. Even in a different language, I could always tell when there was dry sarcasm involved. And I heard a lot of it from these ladies.

After they dressed me, they brought me to the mirror. Antonio stood up from his seat and looked me up and down before I even saw how I looked myself.

"You look very nice!" Antonio said. He brought me to the mirror and had me look at my reflection.

I was wearing a deep red dress with gold lace on the short sleeves, the hem of the dress and around the collar. The fabric was light and it was made for the heat of Spain.

I saw Antonio approach me in the mirror. The ladies went to prepare the next dress for my fitting. Antonio wrapped his arms around my waist. Aurora had fitted the dress around my curves and I could tell Antonio approved. He smoothed out the fabric and smiled at me. I was reminded of Alfred, who did the same thing.

…But Alfred didn't grab my ass.

"Agh!" I yelled. I turned to face the culprit, who literally turned away and whistled, looking up at the ceiling. He turned and raised his eyebrows.

"What?" He asked in a childish manner. I glared at him then rolled my eyes.

The ladies came and took me away for my next dress. I was stunned at the short, sleeveless, dark red colored dress. When I put it on, I found out that Aurora put a built-in bra in the dress…or should I say built-_up_.

When I stepped out to look in the mirror, Antonio raised his eyebrows and gave a low whistle. "Are those yours?" He asked happily. I swear, that man was like a dog in heat.

"Sh-shut up!" I blushed and looked in the mirror. Why would a woman like Aurora give me a party dress like this?

Said woman told Antonio something in Spanish. Antonio blushed and told her something back.

"What did you two say?" I asked.

Antonio blushed an even deeper red. "Aurora made that dress in case…in case you wanted to…y'know…" His head sank and he looked at the floor. "Go clubbing? With me?"

"Clubbing? As in, go to a club, or hit people over the head with a blunt weapon?" I asked.

"The first one." Antonio said. "But if you don't want to…I mean…I don't know if you like that sort of thing…I mean…uh…" He struggled for words. It was rather entertaining.

"I've never been to a club, but since Aurora here made me such a nice dress." I gave him a sideways smile. "What's it like?"

"I think it's fun." Antonio said.

"He's out clubbing almost every night." Said the same lady who pointed out that "Toni" is fond of large chest tissue of women.

I smiled. "Sounds like fun-unless:" I turned away. "You don't want me to come. I can stay here, if you want."

Aurora was begging the younger woman to translate for her. When she found out what I said, she smacked Antonio upside the head and yelled at him.

Antonio rubbed the sore spot on his head and turned to me. "I guess you're going clubbing with me."

"What did she say to you?" I asked.

"Aurora say Toni's mean for not taking girlfriend out." The younger woman said, smiling.

I smiled and bit my lip to avoid laughing. "Well, 'Toni'. Can I go clubbing?"

He gave me the same smile. "It's only right to take my girlfriend out."

His last comment had my other shoe flying at his face.


	13. Chapter 13

_*****Warnings: Steaminess :^)**_

_**I do not own Hetalia. In the odd chance that I do, you'll know it by the pairing of countries**_

I pulled the short skirt down and looked at the neon sign. Antonio held out his arm and I took it.

"You look really nice." He said.

"Thank you." I said. I pulled on my skirt again.

We entered the club. The bright lights mixed with darkness hurt my eyes at first, but I got used to it. Spanish pop music pounded in my ears.

"Can I buy you a drink?" Antonio asked.

I smiled. I might as well have fun, right? "Sure."

I followed him to the bar. Some Spanish guy tried to grab my butt, but Antonio slapped his hand away and glared at the man.

Antonio ordered two drinks and smiled at me. "I hope you like to dance."

I will admit: I was slightly buzzed. I had only one drink, but I can't hold my liquor. Antonio seemed out of it as well. He smiled at me.

"Want to dance?" He asked.

"Sure!" I said. I don't think I would ever do anything like that if I was sane, but I was not sane at the time.

Antonio led me to the dance floor. A new song just started playing. Even _I _knew the song. "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira.

"I didn't know you guys listened to American music." I said as we found a spot on the dance floor.

"We love all music here as long as we can dance." He said.

I smiled and started moving to the music. Antonio put his hands on my hips and smiled. He started to sing along, like a lot of the people in the club.

"_I never knew that she could dance like this. She makes a man want to speak Spanish." _He leaned down and sang the words in my ear. I don't know if that was a usual pick-up for him, but it worked. "_Como si llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa." _

I couldn't help sing the next lines. "_Oh baby when you talk like that, you make a woman go mad. So be wise and keep on reading the signs of my body." _

Before I knew it, I was dancing like I've never danced before. I put my arms around his neck. He drew me closer. I could feel his breath on my skin.

"Move your legs more." Antonio said. "It won't feel as awkward. And breathe with the music and movements."

"Professional dancer?" I smiled.

"I just take lessons." He said.

When I watched his dancing, I could tell that he took lessons. His movements were flawless and he was light on his feet.

The music died down and another song came on. This one had the people cheering. It was "Livin' La Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin.

Antonio smiled. "Do you know how to cha-cha?" He asked.

"No. I don't." I said.

He smiled. "I'll show you." He said.

I'm pretty sure he showed me the really beginner version of the cha-cha. It was just four steps forward and four back. He added smaller steps in between and then taught me what other people would call the 'real cha-cha': one step forward, cha cha cha, one step back, cha cha cha. I felt I was really getting into it. I didn't even notice the other people watching us. Everyone stopped dancing and let us have the whole dance floor.

Antonio smiled and kissed me. I could hear everyone cheer, but I didn't care. I just danced with him as his lips hung onto mine, not breaking apart even with the dancing. I felt like I was in heaven.

We came home laughing and slightly drunk. Antonio literally carried me upstairs to my room. We both crashed and laughed like loons. Most of the house was sleeping. I pulled myself up, only to have Antonio pull me down again. He laid down with his head on a pillow and my head on his chest. I sighed and Antonio rubbed my head.

Because I was slightly drunk, I looked up and him and asked: "So do you have any folktales from Spain?" I blushed at what I said. "I mean, what are they like?"

He smiled. "Yeah, I know some stories."

"Can you tell me one?" I asked. Ok, I was drunk.

He thought. "Well…there's this one about a girl and a lion."

"I like stories." I said. "Can I hear it?"

He smiled and ran his fingers though my hair. "Well, there was a poor girl who took a job watching animals for a farmer. One day, she was watching the farmer's sheep when she saw a lion. This lion was hurt, so she went over to see what was wrong. The lion had a thorn in his paw. So the girl took it out. When she turned back, the sheep were gone. She went to her master and he beat her for losing the sheep.

"Then the farmer sent her to watch the cows. One day, a year later after she saw the lion, she saw him again. She went to the lion, which was hurt again. She healed him and when she turned back, the cows were gone. She went back to her master and he beat her and sent her to look after the donkeys.

"One year later, she saw the lion hurt. She healed him and the donkeys were gone. She noticed that the same thing always happened when the lion was around, so she stayed in a tree that was nearby for the whole night. That night, she saw a man walk behind a huge rock. That morning, the lion came out from behind the rock and left. She watched this happen for three days. Every night, a man would go behind the rock and every morning the lion would come out from behind the same rock. So the girl went behind the rock. She saw a huge house. She went in and saw a big library and kitchen. So she made some food and read some books. She made dinner for the man and then left. She did this a lot.

"One day, she came to the house and saw the man there. He knew that she was the one leaving food for him and he told her that he was the lion. A giant, who was responsible for stealing the sheep, cows and donkeys, cursed the man. He would turn into a lion by day and a man at night. The man told her that the only way to free him was to make a coat out of the princess's hair for the giant.

"So this girl went and took up a job with the princess. She begged the princess for a lock of her hair. The princess gave it to her. The girl made a coat, but it was too small. So the girl went back and begged the princess for another lock of hair. The princess told the girl that she could only have the lock of hair if the girl found the princess a husband. The girl agreed and said she already knew someone for a husband for her. She made the coat and gave it to the giant. The giant told the girl that she had to kill the lion, burn his ashes and throw the ashes in the river. The man would then rise from the river. The girl did this and it worked. She took the man back to the princess.

"Well, the king and queen recognized the man as their son. So instead of marrying his sister, the man married the girl who saved him. The end."

I smiled, my eyes half closed. "That was a very cute story." I said.

"Thank you." Antonio said.

He played with my hair. If felt good. His warm hand against me. His hand slowly worked its way down to my hips. I sighed and looked up at him. I slowly pulled myself up and kissed him. He kissed me back. We both sighed. Antonio's hand found its way to my leg. I gave a soft moan. Antonio kissed my neck and bit down on my soft spot. I ran my fingers through his hair.

Before I knew it, Antonio had lifted me up on top of him. He tried to find the back of my dress. The sound of a zipper and cold air on my back told me he found it. I closed my eyes and kissed him again. I could feel him slowly removing the dress from my shoulders. I gave a soft gasp as he pulled the dress off my arms and kissed my collarbone.

"_Ti amo_, Natalina." He whispered.

He was about to undo my bra when the ever-famous Aurora stormed in and smacked Antonio. She yelled at him like I've never heard her yell. I wondered if she woke up the whole house. I slid off of Antonio and watched the scene unfold.

Things didn't really go that well after that. Antonio was banned from anything past what we were doing. He ended up saying good night to me and getting dragged out by Aurora. What a night.

The next morning, I was woken up by the sound of music. I noticed a small balcony out from my room. I stepped onto it and looked around. Below me, Antonio was playing guitar on one of the many porches.

I watched him play. It was a flamenco piece. He was really good at it. I clapped when he was done with the music. He looked up at me and spread his arms out. "Ah, _ti amo_! My love! Come here!"

I laughed and got changed. I ran down to him and sat next to him as he strummed his guitar. "You like music?" He asked.

"I do." I said. I smiled and put my head on his shoulder. I was amazed that his fingers could move so fast without really moving his arms. He played beautiful music.

"You're really good." I commented. He smiled and kissed me.

"Thank you!" He said. I smiled and kissed him back.

Later that day, I was in the Great Hall by the front door, looking out one of the windows, when I heard a voice.

"Antonio, you bastard! I've got some workers here for your tomatoes! Come out and send them to work so I can go home!" Someone yelled.

I turned. There were a bunch of people at the door, but the person in the front, leaning against the doorframe, was familiar to someone I had seen before. He looked like Feliciano, but with darker hair and an olive skin tone. He also had his eyebrows permanently furrowed in anger and grumpiness. When I walked across the hall, all the men behind the Feli look-alike cheered for me and yelled "_Bella! Bella!_" I knew then that they were all Italian.

The man in the front followed the gaze of his workers to me. Suddenly, it all connected in my mind. Feli's brother. The game. He was the one who started it! The look on the man's face confirmed it.

He yelled at his workers in Italian and then turned to me when his workers went away. He stared at me as if I was a killer and he knew he was going to die next. "Oh…shit…" Was all he was able to say. He tried to beg off and leave, but I picked up the skirt on my new dress and ran after him.

I grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back into the hall. He swore in Italian and put up his hands in surrender. "Look, I can explain-"

"Oh, you have a lot to explain!" I yelled. The workers in the hall quickly left when they saw the building conflict. "Do you remember me? Hmm? The girl whom you started a game with, that has led her to more bedrooms by force that she ever wanted in her entire life?"

The man crossed his arms and gave a slight smile. "Did you get lucky?"

"Did you want to die today?"

"Ok, ok. Point taken." He held back a laugh. "I gave you, what, about seven men so far and you haven't made love with any of them?"

"Shut up!" I blushed. "My love life is personal and not the point of this conversation!" I recomposed myself and looked the Italian in the eye. "Why did you start this game in the first place?"

"Because my brother would never get the chip unless it had something to do with love." The man said. "I told him that everyone else was playing a little love game and he jumped for it! How was I supposed to know he would spread it around? That's my stupid brother."

I clenched my teeth and smile at him. "You have a lot of things to pay for." I slowly walked up to him.

"Don't. Don't come near me." The man backed up.

It happened so fast. He took off and I ran after him. I grabbed him by the back of his shirt again and brought us both to the ground. I kneeled over him and raised my fist.

"I won't hit a woman!" The man yelled in his defense.

"Good, 'cause I'll hit a man." I yelled back. When I went to hit him, he grabbed my fist and held it back.

"Hey, that's enough now." He ordered. He pushed me back until he was on top of me, his forearm pressed against my collarbone. I winced under the pressure of the man and glared at him.

He looked me up and down before giving me a true Italian smile and saying: "You have a nice ass."

I tried to struggle free, but he held me in place. "Listen, I'm going to let you go, but you can't run and do _not_ hit me in the face." He said. I nodded.

Before getting off me, he gave me a kiss on the lips. I tried to yell, but his lips were pressed against mine and it made it hard to make any sounds at all. He smiled and stood up.

"What was that for?" I yelled.

He shrugged. "I just thought I'd give it a shot. Play the love gave too."

"Not a chance in hell. I'm going to find Antonio." I turned and marched out the front door. Antonio said he would be in the north fields working, so I started walking in that direction.

"Ah! Please! _Bella!_ Stop!" The Italian ran after me. "Don't tell Antonio about what happened in the hall! Please!"

I turned to face him. "Why not? Why shouldn't I tell him?" I smiled and leaned in close to the Italian. "There was no one there. I could make up whatever story I wanted to and you'd have no way out." I turned away and smiled to myself. "I think you tried to rape me."

"Like hell I did! What are you even talking about?" He yelled.

"Oh, at least, that's the story I'll tell Antonio." I said. I marched off again.

"Don't you tell that bastard anything!" He yelled. He followed me. "Ok, can we make a deal? Please? Just…wait! Wait up for me!"

I stopped and crossed my arms. "I'm listening." I said.

"You don't tell a single thing to Toni about this and I won't take you back to my place." He said.

"You wouldn't…" I turned.

He smiled. "You have the chip, right? I have a right to play this game too." He leaned in close to me and smiled. "And you've never played a game like Lovino Vargas." His hand slid down my back to my thigh. Me, arching my back backwards and Lovino, trying to get as close to me as he could. A small smile dancing across his lips.

"Lovi! There you are!" A sudden voice called out. It was Antonio. Lovino couldn't have jumped back from me any more. You'd think I suddenly caught fire.

"Hey, Lovi, taste this tomato!" Antonio called. He threw a tomato in Lovi's direction.

The Italian caught it, took a bite and contemplated it. "It's bitter." He declared, finishing off the tomato and throwing the core over his shoulder.

"Thanks for the feedback, Lovi!" Antonio said, not fazed by the rude comment. "I'll make the next harvest better! I see you sent me workers, too!"

"Yeah, I did." Lovino said, taking another tomato off the vine when Antonio wasn't looking. He put the tomato in his pocket and turned his attention to Antonio again.

"Have you met Natalina?" Antonio asked. "She's a love!" He came over to me and picked me up until I was sitting on his shoulder. Just to grind it in more to Lovino, I bent down and kissed Antonio, who smiled like he won the lottery.

"Yeah. I know her." Lovi said. Something told me that Lovino didn't confess that he started the game to anyone. I wondered what kind of a vow Feli was under to keep it secret.

"Well, let's go inside and have some drinks, ok?" Antonio said. He beamed at both of us and carried me inside. The view from his shoulder was nice, I had to admit!

Drink break was mostly ordering more wine for Lovino. He downed glass after glass like it was water. He also complained about which wines were bad and which ones were acceptable for him. I didn't understand why he didn't get drunk, but I heard Italians are very good at holding their liquor. I couldn't hold it myself, so why should I complain? If anything, I admired the ability of both men to be able to drink so much.

After the break, Lovi said he had to leave. He growled at Antonio, who in turn smiled at Lovi. Lovino turned to me and bowed like a gentleman. He kissed me on both cheeks and stole a kiss on the lips when Antonio wasn't looking. He smiled and turned to exit. I lightly kicked him and smiled when he clenched his teeth.

"Good night, my love! I've got big plans for tomorrow!" Antonio said, collecting me up in his arms. We were sitting in front of a fireplace. I had my head in Antonio's lap. He was reading a book and saw me start to fall asleep.

"Really? Is it that late?" I asked.

"Yeah, it is." Antonio smiled. "Do you want to stay here or go upstairs? You know I can't come with you."

Aurora had set up a rule that Antonio couldn't be near my bedroom because he was likely to come in; if I let him in or not.

"I think my back needs a regular bed." I told him. I slowly untangled myself from Antonio's arms and kissed him goodnight.

I got up and walked the quiet halls alone. It was dark and at one point, I took a wrong turn. I rubbed my tired eyes when I swore I saw shadows moving. Heh, it even seemed like one was following me…wait, what?

I turned. I didn't even have time to scream. The shadow was upon me before I even opened by mouth.

_*****Clubbing, tomatoes and shadows, oh my! :^) I had a lot of fun with this one (being a Spain fangirl). Thanks yet again for the nice feedback! This is my most reviewed fanfic. Keep the comments coming! I'll only get better with help from fans!*****_


	14. Chapter 14

_*****Onto our favorite hermit! This is for all the Nihongo fangirls!*****_

When someone removed the bag from my head, I was pissed off and tired. The first thing I said was: "What the hell!"

The man standing in front of me backed up a little bit. He was dressed in what I would call ninja clothes. I had no clue who this guy was, but he was the eighth person to make me mad, so he got the brute force of a month's worth of anger.

"What the hell! Why do you keep doing this! Whenever I finally settle in with someone, you guys always come and ruin my life! I'm not a toy, or a whore, or anything that can be passed along and fought over! I'm a human too!" I yelled. The man just stared at me. The only thing I could see were his eyes behind his ninja mask.

"And do you know how much you guys are filling up my closet? Anywhere I go, I'm leaving a linen trail of clothing! In the slim chance I ever get home, I won't have any place to put all my clothes! And what's worse is that my own brother sold me out and let me be tossed around like a ragdoll! My own brother! He doesn't care if I'm killed! He doesn't care that I've probably got a drunken father at home! My father could kill himself and no one would know! I hate this stupid life, I hate my stupid family, I hate this stupid chip and I hate my stupid self for letting this happen!" I started to cry.

During this rant, the man kneeled on the floor. I didn't even take time to notice the nice house we were in. The floors were made of what looked like woven straw. The walls of the room were paper and wood. Delicate paper lanterns hung from the ceiling. They were brighter than paper lanterns should be, so I wondered if the had light bulbs in them. It was a modern home made to look like a very old home.

The man bowed before me from his kneeling position, catching me off-guard. "_Gomenesai_!" The man said. "I have made my own guest angry. It is rude and un-custom like of me!" He bowed again and again.

"Wait, wait, woah!" I said. "Um, calm down! _I'm _sorry." The man stopped bowing.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I've just been under pressure from people." I said. "You shouldn't have had to take that."

The man just looked at me. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, so I said "sorry" again, just in case he was mad at me.

"You don't have to apologize so much." He pulled off his mask so I was finally able to see what he looked like. He had short black hair with two locks on either side of his face that were longer. He had brown eyes and a gentle face. "It's my fault for taking you so roughly. I angered you."

"Ok, let's call it a truce. Wasn't your fault and it wasn't mine, ok?" I said. The man nodded. I started to wiped away my tears when the man pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to me. The cloth was tear stained when I was done with it. I held it in my hands and looked down. I still felt bad for the man for yelling at him.

"You look troubled. Can I make you some tea?" The man offered.

I looked up at him and nodded with a weak smile. The man escorted me out of the room. The rest of his house was rather modern. Drywall, carpet, hardwood floors, ect. I wondered if he had the other room for a special reason. He sat me at a table that was short, so you had to kneel on a pillow to sit at it. He went away to make some tea. I looked around the house, not quiet sure what to do, when a little dog came up to me and wagged its tail. I petted the dog, which rolled over on its stomach and begged for more. I rubbed its stomach and gave a small laugh. It came over to me and licked my nose.

"Pochi-kun! That is very disrespectful! You know you shouldn't lick guests!" The man said, coming back with a tray that had a small teapot and two teacups on it.

He had changed into robe-like clothing with a loose overcoat. Seeing his clothes made me glance down at my own. I was wearing just the short nightgown that Aurora made me. I tried to control the blush in my cheeks. I might be 'indecent' as Ludwig would say, but I didn't need to be doted on like a child. If this man was fine with the way I looked, then it was tough for me. I was his prisoner, after all. I'd just have to deal with it. The man saw my blush, though. Slightly blushing himself, he took off his overcoat and came over to me. He put the brown coat around my shoulders and sat down across from me. He poured some tea into a teacup and handed it to me.

The teacups were not like Arthur's tea set. The cups were handle-less and the teapot was shorter and smaller. I took a sip. The tea was warm and it helped me relax.

"Um, I hate to ask this stupid question, but where are we?" I asked.

The man looked up from pouring his own tea. "The countryside of Japan." He said.

Ah. Japan. That explained a lot. The house, the tea, the ninja…

I nodded and took another sip of my tea. "Is that your dog?" I asked. I know, stupid question. I was full of them at the time.

"Yes. His name is Pochi-kun." The man said. "He is a Shiba Inu mix." The dog wagged its tail.

"So I know your dog's name, but I don't know yours." I smiled.

He calmly answered: "My name is Honda Kiku. What is your name?"

"I'm Natalina Ayers." I said.

When I was still traveling the world with my mom, she went to Japan. I learned that 'san', 'kun' and 'chan' were name endings in Japan. Of course, I tried to be polite to Kiku, so I said: "Um, Mr. Kiku-san, ah! I mean, Mr. Honda-san, no, wait, Honda-san, I-"

Mr. Honda (Honda-san? Mr. Honda-san? Don't ever ask me to speak Japanese again) put up a hand to stop me from talking.

"I know you Westerners don't know how to address us, so you may call me Kiku." He said. There was a slight blush in his cheeks. I didn't know if that meant that I was calling him by a rude Western name or if Kiku here was just socially awkward.

"Oh. Right. Thanks." I blushed at my Western mistakes. "I was wondering if you knew anything about he chip. I mean, people have been asking a lot about it, I don't mind giving out information at this point."

"I know a lot about it." Kiku said. "It's from your mother, it hurts your heart when your heart rate goes up, you cough up blood from it, it tells someone how to rule the world from start to finish, your brother turned you in to Ludwig about it and everyone wants to get it from you, which has started a game among the more romantic people."

"So you basically know my whole story." I said. "At least that saves a lot of trouble for me-" I paused. My hand went to the chip. For some reason, I had pain in my heart. I furrowed my eyebrows. I wasn't in pain or trouble. Why would it act like this?

"Is everything ok, Ayers-san?" He asked.

I smiled. "I thought something was wrong, but I guess not!" I cheerfully lied. "You can call me Natalina if you want."

He looked at me like I just told him to run around all of Tokyo naked. Well, he did seem rather thin…I wonder what he would look like running around all of Tokyo n-AGH! I've been hanging around Francis too long.

"You are from a different culture! I have no excuse to not use my customs!" He said sternly.

"Well, I don't speak Japanese, so tell me at least what you are calling me." I said. I took another sip of warm tea.

"It's hard to explain…I guess I would be calling you Miss Ayers." He said.

"Don't call me that." I waved off the name. "What would Natalina-san be the equivalent of?"

"Miss Natalina." He said.

"What about Natalina-chan?" I asked.

"I thought you didn't speak Japanese." Kiku pointed out.

"I don't. But my mom did and that's the only thing I remember learned from her: 'Chan'." I said.

"'Chan' is how you would address a friend. You use 'chan' or 'kun' for anyone you don't use 'san' for." Kiku said.

"You can call me Natalina-chan if you want." I said.

Kiku blushed. "Are you sure? We don't know each other very well…"

"Look, I've been tossed around the world. Always addressing someone as Mr. or Miss gets tiring after a while and you end up calling each other by other names shortly." I smiled. "I don't know how Western you are. You can call me Nat, Nattie or Natalina because I don't mind-"

For God's sake, that man was going to have a heart attack if he wasn't careful! He jumps at the smallest things. After I explained what he could call me, he spilled his tea in his lap and turned bright red. I gave him a soft smile and took my napkin. I went over to him and helped him clean up. He had gotten most of the tea out of his clothes, but I mopped up a spot on his knee and threw away the napkin in a nearby trash bin. While I cleaned up the tea, Kiku seemed bothered by how close I was physically to him. He blushed madly and looked down as I cleaned up his robes.

"Th-thank you." He said quietly. "I can get the rest."

I smiled. "Ok." I said.

Kiku's dog came over and licked his owner's robes until most of the tea was replaced by dog spit. I giggled at the puppy, who wagged his tail.

"The perks of having a dog." I said. I patted the dog's head. "Instant vacuum!"

"Do you have a dog, Natalina-chan?" Kiku asked.

I smiled sadly. "No. I don't. I wish I did, though."

"Is it because of your father?" Kiku asked.

I nodded. "I don't want a little puppy to get hurt."

"So you admit that your father is violent?" Kiku asked.

I paused before a nodded slowly. "Yeah. He can be."

Kiku looked truly disturbed by this thought. I've had people brush off my father's abuse like it was nothing. I tilted my head and looked at Kiku.

"Is everything ok?" I asked.

"That's…that's horrible." He said. "How your own father could treat you like that…I just don't know…" He shook his head.

"It's not my dad's fault." I defended. "He's drunk when he gets violent."

"Even worse!" Kiku growled. He looked up at me. If this man could ever be angry, I guess this was the closest thing to it. "No one should treat their own children like that!" He looked down. "In Japan, children are very hard to have. It is truly a blessing to have one. Someone who would beat a girl like you is disgraceful and doesn't belong anywhere in the world."

I gave him a weak smile again. "Yes, I agree. But there is no way out of it. I just need to stay with him."

"Why? Are you of legal adulthood on your country?" Kiku asked.

"I'm 19." I said. "I know, I could run away, but I don't want my dad getting hurt." I looked down at the floor. "He already lost his wife. If I move out he might try and kill himself or someone else in his drunken stupor."

Kiku slowly reached out a shaky hand and put it on mine. "If things go as planned, after all of this, you can go home. But if you don't want to…" He looked away. "You can stay here if you want." He gasped at what he just said and blushed again. I smiled. He was truly an awkward hermit living in the countryside of Japan.

"Kiku, if you blush any more, I'm afraid steam will come out your ears to relieve the pressure from your red face." I said.

"I am not used to your Western ways…" He shook his head. He looked at a clock on the wall. "It is late. I have prepared a bedroom for you, if you feel the need to retire."

It was 1:48 on the clock. It was then, like a lightning bolt, fatigue struck me and I gave a soft yawn. Kiku helped me up and walked me upstairs. The room was small, but the bed was comfy and it was all I needed.

"I will find you clothes in the morning. Sleep well." Kiku said. He closed the door behind me.

I smiled to myself and closed my eyes. This was going to be interesting.

_*****Hooray for Thanksgiving break! Lots of chapters coming out now! **_

_**Maybe a note (?): My sister and I were talking about if "Tell Me This is a Dream" had a sequel because I saw some sequels on and I'm approaching the beginning of the end of this fanfic. After I finish this fanfic, I'll probably leave it in a place where it could be stand-alone or have a sequel and then post a poll to see how many people would read a sequel. If you have any comments about a sequel right now, post a review and let me know! :^)*****_


	15. Chapter 15

When I woke up, the room was dark because of the thick curtains. I opened up the curtains and found clothes on a chair in the corner of the room. When I held the clothes up to see them, I found it was the robe that was similar to Kiku's, except that it was a deep blue instead of the dark grey one that Kiku wore.

I put on the clothes and went out into Kiku's house to find him. When I looked out the window, I found Kiku in a garden in front of his house. He had a wooden sword in his hands and he seemed to be practicing some sort of Japanese sword art form. He was very focused on his work. I stepped out onto the porch and watched him. I took this chance to look around the house. It looked like an old Japanese house on the outside. Clay roof tiles, wooden siding, a huge Japanese garden (complete with cherry blossom trees) and a wrap-around porch.

Kiku saw me and waved. I waved back and went over to him.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I am a fan of sword fighting." Kiku said. "I am practicing."

I watched his careful moves. He glanced at me as he practiced. He finally stopped and (with another blush in his cheeks) asked: "Would you like to try?"

"Um, sure." I said.

"Come in front of me." He said. Kiku handed me the wooden sword and stood behind me, holding his hands over mine, which were holding the hilt of the sword.

"First, we learn how to block. It's no use fighting if you can't defend yourself. First, turn the sword at an angle, like this." He helped me position the sword in my hands.

"Spread your legs out." He said. He put a hand on my hip and rotated it. "And move your hips…that…way…" He realized what he was doing and blushed, but he didn't remove his hand from my hip. We both sensed that our attention wasn't on the practicing anymore.

"I-I like the way that _yukata _looks on you." He said.

"What?" I asked. I slowly dropped the sword and Kiku removed his hand that was still on the hilt.

"The robe." He said.

"Thank you." I said. Kiku hesitantly tucked a bit of my hair behind my ear.

"You-you are very pretty." Kiku said.

I leaned against him and smiled as he turned inside out. "Are you playing the love game too?"

"I-uh, um, I- well…It's…um…" He blushed. "I don't know…"

I playfully looked up at him and pulled his ear. "You're kinda cute!" I said. "If you were playing this little game, I don't think I would mind."

Kiku looked away and gulped. "Shall we go inside?" He asked.

I smiled. "If you want to."

We were sitting on Kiku's couch, laughing as Kiku told me stories about the others that have held me captive.

"Oh my God! Feli said that?" I laughed.

"Well, he was drunk!" Kiku said.

I laughed and put my head on his shoulder. He was tense for a minute, but relaxed and rubbed my back. His other hand caressed my cheek. I blushed a little bit. He probably felt the heat in my face, but he didn't say anything. My heart started acting up again. I sat up and pressed my heart with my hand.

"Is everything ok?" Kiku asked.

"Fine!" I lied. I smiled at him. He stared at me as if he was thinking really hard about something.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

Kiku blinked. "Fine." He said.

I was about to say something, but Kiku smashed his lips against mine. I gasped as he suddenly grabbed my shoulders, his lips not leaving mine. I grabbed his clothes. He took a deep breath and pulled away.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"It's because…because you are pretty and…" Kiku shut his eyes. "Feli dared me to kiss you as part of the game."

I smiled. "I've had worse, Kiku." I leaned against him again. "And your kisses are pretty nice."

Kiku blushed and then turn to look at the floor. "I was wondering…if you would like to go to a festival tonight."

"I've never been to one." I said.

"I think you'll like it." Kiku said.

I smiled. "I would love to go."

I gasped at the lights and festivals. Stands hosting games were lined in rows among lanterns on strings. There was a huge tower that had two drummers on it. I walked around and smiled like a kid. Kiku put an arm around my shoulder and smiled. He seemed proud to be showing me his world.

He showed me the usual games at a festival in Japan. We went goldfish scooping (although both of us couldn't catch a fish to save our souls) and we played a shooting game (which I won). Kiku treated me to ice cream and sodas.

When the festival seemed over, Kiku grabbed my hand and pulled me to a river.

"The fireworks will start soon! I know the best spot!" Kiku laughed. It was good to see him smile.

We walked out onto a small bridge. Little lights danced on the water. I smiled at Kiku. "This is perfect!" I said.

"Thank you." Kiku said. He reached out and took my hand. "Thank you for coming."

He drew himself closer to me and put an arm around my waist. I sighed and leaned against him. He took my chin in his shaking hand and slowly brought his lips to mine.

I knew he wasn't the most experienced of the people I've kissed, but he still brought a blush to my cheeks and a light-headedness to my mind.

We didn't even know the fireworks started.

Kiku carried me back inside his house, because I fell asleep in his car. When I opened my eyes, he was standing over me. I was laying in my bed, the covers over me. I was still in my yukata robe. Kiku blushed.

"I-I wasn't doing anything!" He said in his defense. "I was tucking you in."

I smiled at him. "Thanks." I said.

"I hope you had a good time." Kiku said.

"I had a wonderful time, Kiku. Thank you so much for taking me." I said.

"Y-you're welcome." He said. He leaned down to me, his lips seemed to pucker up, but they looked like they had a nervous tick to them. I smiled.

"What are you doing?" I asked, a small laugh coming out my mouth.

"Ah! I…I mean…uh…" He shut his eyes tight and grabbed me by my shoulders again. His lips pressed firmly against mine.

I smiled to myself. He was a hermit. He probably didn't have a lot of female visitors. I wrapped my arms around his neck in hopes that he would calm down. He sighed and put his hands on my lower back. It seems hard to believe that I was the more experienced of the two people, but it was true. It was only when I moved my lips, he began to move his. Of all the people I kissed or were forced to kiss, Kiku was the sweetest one. I wasn't underwater, like with Arthur, I wasn't in a windstorm, like with Feli, I was being held in Kiku's arms on a nice summer day. Ugh. Hopeless romantic. That's what I was becoming.

I was enjoying the kiss when I found my head resting on my pillow. Kiku pressed himself into me, his eyes shut tight. I took a deep breath and felt my chest press into his. I could hear his heart jumping. He ran both his hands through my hair and then reached one hand down to grab the edge of the blankets. He pulled them back and then laid down next to me, pulling the blankets up behind him. I gave a soft sigh and Kiku continued kissing me. I couldn't help myself. I let my tongue run over his bottom lip. Kiku gasped and pulled back.

"I'm sorry! I should never have done that!" Kiku said, looking away. "I should never have started anything. I'm taking it too far. I am disgracing my culture."

"Kiku, calm down!" I whispered. I put my forehead on his. "Hush. It's ok."

He gave me a soft kiss. "I should go." He said.

"You can stay here, if you want." I said.

Kiku blinked. "Really? Is that ok?"

"Yes! Of course!" I said.

Kiku laid down next to me and put an arm around my waist. I smiled and cuddled next to Kiku. I didn't know what a big morning the next day would be.


	16. Chapter 16

I woke up suddenly when I heard someone bust down the door. Both Kiku and I shot up as several guards filed into the room. They were wearing Chinese military clothes.

"We are here to take Natalina Ayers for Wang Yao of China!" One person said. "Please give the girl to us, Honda Kiku."

"Wait! Hold it! Who the hell is Wang Yao? What's going on?" I asked I looked at Kiku, who wore a blank expression on his face.

"Natalina. Please leave the room." Kiku said.

"I'm not leaving until someone tells me what's happening." I said.

"Don't listen to the noodle boy." Another man smirked. "Just come with us and no one will get hurt. We'll tell you when–"

"No! Someone will tell me now!" I demanded. "I won't go anywhere with you! You'll tell me what's going on now, or you'll have to drag me out by force!"

You can guess where it went from there.

I dropped onto my knees on Kiku's yard. One guard grabbed me by my hair and pulled me up. I was forced to look up at what must have been the head guard. He looked me up and down and smiled.

"This is the girl." He declared.

"Let me go!" I yelled.

"Please! Tell Yao-san to contact me. Don't hurt her!" Kiku said. He was being held back on his porch by two guards.

"Don't worry about that, Honda. The girl will be coming with us." The head guard said.

"Over my dead body!" I yelled.

"Unfortunately, Wang doesn't want you like that." The head guard said. "Now, come with us." He turned and walked to what looked like a van built for prisoners.

The guard that was holding my hair pulled me up and dragged me to the van. I turned to look at Kiku, who hung his head in shame.

"I'm so sorry, Natalina-san." He said. The guards who were with him prevented Kiku from going anywhere. "Please…say hello to Yao for me."

"Kiku!" I yelled.

"I'm sorry." He said again.

...

Now I was pissed. I was pissed beyond belief. I suffered a horrible car ride with ten guards. I didn't feel like doing anything but stewing my brain in my own pissed off attitude.

I don't know how long the ride was. There were no windows in the van that fit all ten of us. When we stepped out of the van, with me in handcuffs and three guard holding me in place, I didn't even take any time to notice the richly painted, gold trimmed, old-fashioned Chinese palace. I was marched up the stairs to the front door, inside, down too many halls to count and finally, I was forced to kneel in front of a throne that held a young man.

The man had brownish black hair that was pulled into a ponytail that was long enough to be pulled over his shoulder. He wore a long red Chinese style shirt and black pantaloons with kung foo shoes and white socks. I recognized him as the man who fought Arthur in the park. The Jackie Chan guy.

He was sitting with his legs over one arm of the throne and his back resting one the other one. He held a Dragon Li kitten in his arms, which were covered by the oversized silk fabric of his shirt. Servants stood on either side of the throne, waiting for the young man to ask for something.

He sat up strait when I was marched into the room. He gave the cat to someone else and stood up.

The head guard grabbed me by my hair and forced me to look up at the young man. I yelled and tried to break free of the guard's hold, but to no avail. The young man knelt in front of me so we could see eye to eye. He smiled at me.

"Hello there." He said. "My name is Wang Yao."

I growled at the man. He grabbed my cheek like a grandma.

"You're cute!" He said. "What is your name–"

He didn't have time to finish, because I lunged for his hand. My teeth made a snapping sound as he pulled his hand away at the last moment. The guard holding me smacked me on the head. I gave a short shout.

"Aiya!" The young man yelled, pulling his hand to his chest defensively. 'What do you think you're doing?"

"Yeah, girl!" The guard yelled. He smacked me again. "Don't you dare hurt the great Wang Yao!"

The man waved an oversized sleeve at the guard. "Too much groveling." He said.

"I am sorry, sir." The man said.

Wang Yao looked at me again. "We are not going to hurt you. Just give us the chip and we will let you go."

"Ha! Funny, sir!" I yelled. "What kind of joke is this?"

"What joke?" Yao frowned. "Did I miss something?"

I blinked. "You…you don't know?"

"No. What is this all about?" Yao asked.

"I can't give you the chip." I said.

"Why not?" Yao demanded.

"The chip…the chip…is inside of me." I said. I should have been used to saying that, but I wasn't.

"Aiya! You _ate _it?" Yao yelled.

I heard the guards yell something along the lines of 'get oil'.

"Whoa! Jesus, can you all slow down?" I yelled. "Let me explain!"

Yao stopped his servants from running around. "Alright. Tell us."

I wasn't handcuffed anymore, so I pulled the collar of the yukata robe down until you could see my heart. When I was a kid, I found a way to make my heart 'bulge' so you could see the chip against my skin. Yao gasped and looked up at me.

"How? When? Why…" He blinked.

I looked at all the people. "It's a long story." I said.

Yao stood up and said something to his guards in Chinese. He turned to me. "Let's go somewhere else."

...

Yao took me to a grand courtyard. I explained the whole thing about my mother (as well as my brother's betrayal). He shook his head.

"Amazing. It is amazing that you're mother would trust you that much." Yao said.

I smiled. "Yeah. She was really cool." I said.

"Well, the chip is important for this country. We need to remove it as soon as possible." Yao said.

I sighed. "Good luck." I said.

"But before we try anything, I will make sure you are settled in." Yao said. "Please follow me."

He escorted me to a large room. It was half modern, with a regular bed and dressing table and half ancient Chinese, with décor that could have been in a museum. The room itself was painted in red and gold colors. It had a huge window that overlooked the courtyard.

"It's beautiful." I said.

Yao nodded in agreement. "There are some clothes for you in the closet. Please see the guard I posted outside of your room when you are ready."

I nodded as Yao left. When I opened up the closet, I found several dresses that were Chinese style, as well as some pantaloons and shirts like Yao's. I put on some dark blue pantaloons and a light blue Chinese style shirt. It was more form fitting than Yao's clothes. I went out into the hall and followed the guard.

A lot of the rooms in the palace were big. They were mostly bare, which meant that you could style them any way you wanted to. In the room I was lead to, there were several people in white coats with metal trays on wheels in front of them. Yao sat in a richly decorated chair with pillows to match. Another chair similar to Yao's was empty. The guard told me to sit in it and Yao waved him off. Yao smiled at me.

"These doctors are here to see what they can do about the chip." Yao said.

I sighed. The doctors never seemed to help me with the chip. If they could find a way to removed it without killing me, God bless them. But the chances were slim.

The doctors forced me to pull down my shirt so you could see the area above my heart. They poked and prodded at it and talked among themselves. One doctor poked it in the wrong place. I grabbed a white cloth that was sitting on one of the metal trays and coughed up blood. They all gasped and ordered Yao to translate to me.

"They are wondering why you are bleeding." Yao said.

After confused messages and several hand-made charts, I finally got the point across about why I would cough up blood.

One doctor solved the chip problem by giving me a tea. When I drank it, it tasted awful. Like rotting fish juice, road-kill blood and several minty teas all mixed together. I was never a fan of richly minty things, so the tea made me gag and I couldn't drink it.

Another doctor wanted to cut open my heart right there, but more hand-made charts from me told the doctor where the chip was. It would be too risky to take the chip out that way.

The last doctor wanted to break up the chip into smaller pieces and let it go through my bloodstream until it was away from my heart. I don't think he knew that the chip had to remain whole for it to work.

Yao stood up. "This won't do! It is getting late and our guest is tired! We will stop for today and continue tomorrow."

The doctors left and Yao turned to me. "Why would your mother put it in such a hard place to retrieve it?"

I sighed. "I told you already. This is something that needs to be guarded with my life."

Yao shook his head and sighed. "Well, it is getting late. Why don't you join me for dinner?" He asked.

I smiled. "I would like to."

...

Dinner was a filling meal of duck, pork, beef and chicken. I didn't eat anything all day and I was eager to eat. All of Yao's servants joined us.

Yao smiled. "You never did tell me your name." He said. "I had to call you 'the girl that could rule the world' for the entire day."

"I'm Natalina Ayers." I said. I had a feeling he already knew my name, but didn't say anything.

"I hope you enjoy your stay here." Yao said. "I meant to let you go home sooner, but the chip is giving us a problem."

"That's what everyone said." I sighed. "No one has been able to remove the chip without killing me or giving me heart problems."

"Have more food." Yao insisted, seeing my empty plate.

I smiled and filled up again. I felt a hand come to me face. I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw Yao put a lock of my hair behind my ear. He smiled at me and ate some of his own food.

Then someone screamed. We all jumped. A young woman came running into the room, yelling and pointing. Everyone stood up. I looked at Yao.

"What did she say?" I asked.

"She said there is blood in the courtyard." Yao said gravely.

...

We all went out to the courtyard. Sure enough, a large section of the courtyard was covered in red blood. The edges were dried up, so it wasn't that fresh. But it was fresh enough to do while we were eating dinner.

Yao frowned. "Who could have done this?" He said.

I looked around the courtyard. It suddenly came to me that the blood seemed to be arranged in a pattern. I took a walk around it, but I couldn't grasp what it meant. I suddenly jumped and ran to my room with a flash of inspiration. Yao and several guards ran after me. I looked out my window onto the courtyard, trying to see the pattern.

My blood froze.

My knees went weak.

It felt like time stopped.

I fell to the ground and coughed up blood. I didn't stop. This is one of the worse, no, the _worst _attack I ever had when it came to the chip and my heart. I couldn't stop coughing. I couldn't breathe. My nails scraped across the hard stone floor, blood covering my hands. This couldn't happen to me. Not this blood, not the blood outside. Not to me.

"Natalina!" Yao yelled, coming to my side. Some guards picked me up. Yao yelled at them in Chinese. I pointed to the window before I was carried out.

If Yao looked out the window, he would have seen the same message that I did, made with blood on the courtyard stones:

**I FOUND YOU, REBEL**

The message was scary enough as it was, but is was even more scary when you knew the meaning behind it.

"Rebel" was the nickname my brother gave me when I was young.


	17. Chapter 17

"Natalina? Are you awake?" I heard someone say.

"I'm awake." I answered. I didn't bother looking up. I just stayed in my fetal position under the covers and stared at the wall. Huh. It was red.

Yao sat on the edge of my bed. "Is everything ok?"

"Fine. Just great." I said numbly.

"What's wrong?" Yao asked.

"Nothing." I said.

"It was that message, right?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Are you 'Rebel'?"

"I'm sick of 20 Questions. Don't make me play it." I said.

Yao leaned down and kissed my cheek.

"My heart is not for sale." I whispered. I didn't want to play Feli's stupid game any more.

"I don't give out my love to just anyone, you know." Yao pouted.

I smiled to myself and turned to face Yao. "Yes. I'm Rebel. It was the name my brother gave me. It's a long story, but it boils down to…" I took a deep breath. "My brother, the one who turned me in to Ludwig and the others, knows where I am now. And he wrote it in blood."

Yao gave me a sad smile. "We'll figure it out."

"I hope so." I said. I didn't want this to be real.

"_Ngo oiy ney a_." He blurted out. He blushed. "Because you're pretty. And nice. And I just…I don't know…I…"

"What did you even say to me?" I asked him. He blinked and slowly said:

"I love you."

I smiled. I didn't know how old this guy was, but he seemed so cute and innocent. "I would like to get to know you better." I said.

Yao took advantage of my good mood and jumped down on the bed next to me. I bounced up as the bed tried to balance the weight of both of us. He gave me a huge bear hug and looked down at me while my face was smashed against his chest.

"I would like to get to know you better too!" He said.

"Yao…can't…breathe…" I gasped.

He let go of me and gave me an ear-to-ear grin. He didn't have the strength of Alfred's hugs, but I was almost smothered to death by his silk clothes.

"Are you going to stay in your bed all day, or can I show you around?" He asked.

I smiled. "Um, well, I guess I could…" My smiled turned into a frown. "I don't know if I'd be putting you in danger, with my brother and stuff-"

Yao put his arms around me. Not in his death hug, but in a caring way that made my blood freeze and my brain fry. He nearly seemed to purr like his cat as he snuggled up to me.

"It'll be ok." He said quietly. "I'll make sure you are safe."

I smiled. "What is there to do for fun in China?"

I found myself being yanked out of the bed like a dog on a leash.

Yao's home was close to Beijing. He showed me around the huge city. There were dance demonstrations at several parks. I loved the colors of the costumes and the way the dancers moved. I stared in awe at them. As I watched the demos, I suddenly became aware of a hand slipping into mine. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see Yao holding my hand, rubbing his thumb against my own thumb. I leaned against him and watched the dancers.

"I hope you liked the day." Yao said.

"I loved today!" I said.

We were sitting in a busy town square, on a bench near a food stall. Yao treated me to fruit on a stick, covered in melted sugar. It was a perfect end to a wonderful day. We had been so many places that day. After we saw the dancers, we went to the places that the 2008 Olympics took place. We went window-shopping at the Drum and Bell Tower, or Nanluoguxiang, as Yao called it. We took a small hike around the Jinshanling Great Wall (part of the Great Wall of China) and saw a wonderful view of Beijing. We saw the Forbidden City, which looked like Yao's home, only bigger. When we headed back, I saw the fruit and Yao bought some for me.

"That is good." Yao said.

"Thank you so much for this time!" I said. I hugged the stuffed panda that Yao bought me earlier.

Yao beamed at me and helped me stand up as he finished his own treat. "Well, we better head back."

I was in my silk PJs, brushing my hair out. I tried horribly to braid it and keep it off my face, but I'm more of a ponytail girl, not a braid girl.

"Natalina? Are you in here?" I heard someone call. Yao stepped into my room.

"Hi Yao." I said. "I'm just heading off to bed."

He sat down on my bed next to me and held up the lame excuse for a braid. "Why are you killing off your hair?" He asked. "I think it choked on itself."

I playfully slapped his hand away and smiled. "I'm trying to braid it." I said.

Yao rolled his eyes and undid the braid. "Aiya! Lame braid, Natalina! Let me try."

I smiled to myself as Yao braided my hair for me. "How did you learn to braid hair?" I asked.

Yao sighed. "My nanny. She was sick of the way I always put my hair in a ponytail. She made me learn how to braid it for a different style."

I laughed. Yao gave me a playful pout.

"It's not funny! I tried to forget how to braid hair, but once you learn from nanny, you never forget it."

I giggled. Yao finished the braid and let his hands fall to my waist. I suddenly became aware of Yao's change in attitude. I felt his breath on my neck as his head grew closer to mine. He made circles on my hip with his finger. My skin felt like it was on fire. Alive. Sensitive. Strange.

I turned to Yao. He leaned down and kissed me. I closed my eyes and put my arms around his neck. Yao have a soft moan of approval and felt for my pillow. He laid me down gently, as if I was made of porcelain. He locked eyes with me. I reached up and slowly undid his ponytail. I ran my hand through his silky hair. He pressed himself against me and kissed my neck.

I gave a soft moan and I could feel Yao smiled. He slowly reached up and started undoing the buttons on my PJs. I gulped and Yao paused. I looked up at him and started undoing the buttons on his shirt. Surprised by my sudden move, he stayed still until I was done. I felt his muscular chest with my hand. Yao continued to undo mine, but he stopped when he got to my chest area. He blushed and looked away.

"I'm sorry. I've just…I'm not…" He closed his eyes. "Not used to girls' bodies." He blurted out. "I'm just, I've never really been around girls that I like romantically. I mean, well, I've seen a few cute ones, but none of them are like you. I-"

I silenced him with a kiss. He returned it. My stomach was pressed against his bare chest. I could feel his breath rise and fall against mine. He grabbed my hands and held them over my head. I moaned and Yao pressed his lips harder into mine. When we broke away for air, a burning question came to my mind.

"Yao, how old are you?"

What? It's hard to tell with his child-like face! I had good ground to stand on with my question!

"Four-" He cut himself off and stared at me.

"Fourteen?" I guessed.

Yao blushed and shook his head.

"Forty?" I guessed again.

Another head shake.

"Four?" I smiled.

Yao opened his mouth to say something, but a guard barged in and yelled: "Intruders!" He paused when he saw us.

"Oh. I'm sorry." The guard said. "Shall I leave, O Great Wang Yao?" He asked.

"No!" Yao ordered. He got off of me and buttoned up his shirt. "What is wrong?"

"We found a loud man and a stuck-up man in your courtyard." The guard said.

I gasped and looked at Yao, who seemed to already have the answer.

"Oh my God, that's Alfred and Arthur!" I said.

_*****Few notes!**_

_**1: My sister got a FanFiction account! She's thinking of putting up a story herself, one like mine in the sense of OC pairing. She's got similar humor to me, so if anyone likes this story, I'm sure you would like my sister's! I'll post something on here when the first chapter is up. **_

_**2: We're getting near the end of our story! I've got a poll going on the profile about a sequel. Any feedback on what you guys think is great for me. Chime in on a sequel on the poll! Thank you!**_

_**3: Thanks to all the reviews! I love every single comment and it really helps me think about what you guys like and don't like about my stories! Thanks to my two stalkers, Project Jelp and Tono Radish, who raised comments from about 14 (awesome) reviews to 36 as of this chapter. A potato chip was not put in my heart, so I guess I did good, right Tono Radish? :^) You all are so much help to me! **_

_**4: Story will become dark in the next few chapters. Be warned and keep reading! :^) **_


	18. Chapter 18

_*****Warnings: Blood. Violence. Potty mouths. Must I say more?*****_

"Put me the bloody hell down!" Someone yelled.

Yao and I ran out to the courtyard to see both Arthur and Alfred being held back by guards.

Arthur's head snapped up when he saw me. Looking into his green eyes made me feel uneasy. The last time we met, Arthur blew his top off and yelled at me for thinking of leaving. I backed up a little when we made eye contact.

I felt sick seeing both of them here. Recent troubles in my nightmare-dream of a life made me push past people out of my mind, but looking at both of them made me want to run into their arms right there. No. I never forgot any of them. Any of them. How I wish that everyone were there right, right there, right then, just so I could tell them I was sorry. I didn't mean to play favorites or be a slut. I felt really, really cheap for a moment. My stomach dropped and I backed up some more. Not because I didn't want to be with them, but because the two blondes didn't deserve to be with me.

"No! Natalina! Wait! Please!" Arthur tried to move towards me, but the guards held him back. "Please! Forgive me! I got your letter and I wanted to say I'm sorry for how I treated you!"

I was confused. I didn't send him a letter.

"Hey! Nattie! It's Alfred!" The other blonde yelled. "You remember me, right? I got your message and I came to save you, like a good hero. So, can you tell these assholes to let me go?"

I just stared at them. Message? Letter? I didn't do any of that.

"What are you doing in my home?" Yao demanded.

Both of them paused.

"Saving her." They both said.

"Aren't you two rivals for the chip?" Yao asked.

"Yes! Bloody well right!" Arthur yelled. "This wanker followed me! I'm sure of it!"

"I didn't follow you, you followed me!" Alfred yelled. "I just got her letter and came to save her, because I'm a hero-"

"You are not a bloody hero, Alfred. Just face the fact-" Arthur started.

"Well, you're no better! Tea-drinker! Do you really think she'd send a message to have you save her?" Alfred snapped back at Arthur.

This arguing continued for a while, (oh, how I missed both of those voices secretly) until I finally yelled: "What the hell do you mean by letter?"

The two blondes paused.

"What do you mean?" Arthur asked. "You sent me a letter to save you."

"No! You sent it to me!" Alfred said.

"I didn't send any-" I started.

Someone crashed through the bushes. It was Feli and his brother.

"Ah! Don't kill me!" Feli screamed. "Please! Don't hurt me! I'm sorry!"

"Knock it off, brother!" Lovino yelled. He turned to me. "Hey. We got your goddamn message. Can we save your ass now?"

Someone else ran into the clearing, huffing and puffing. Ludwig looked up at me. "Thank God! You're safe!" He said.

Francis, Antonio and Gilbert came out of the bushes, chatting like old friends. They waved at me and Gilbert started to jog over to me, but Yao sent his guards to surround me.

"Cut it out, Wang!" Arthur yelled. "We're not going to hurt her."

"I might hurt you!" Gilbert said. "I'm here to save the lady at her own request!" Gilbert winked at me. "Thought it was about time you sent a distress letter to the awesome me!"

"I didn't-" I started.

"No! She sent it to us, asshole!" Lovino yelled. "You stole it, you bastard!"

"Now Lovi, don't swear like that!" Antonio said. "And we all know that I got the letter first! It was addressed to me!"

"Why would she send a letter to a pervert like you?" Ludwig stated. "She sent it to me."

"Wait, guys, I-" I started again.

"What about me?" Francis purred. "She sent me a letter asking to rescue her! It must be me that she wants!"

"No. It was me." Kiku stepped into the courtyard. He was holding his sword. I noticed then that everyone was wearing a military uniform. "I got a letter from her."

Everyone started arguing. I couldn't stand the noise. I swore I heard something about the War of 1812 and "that damn wanker Napoleon". When I said I wanted everyone right there and then, I didn't really mean it. I wished it would rain money from the sky. Just to check and see if I was granted magical powers. Guess not.

"Hold it!" I yelled. "Wait! Stop fighting!" I looked around the courtyard. "I didn't send any letters to anyone. It's obvious that someone was lying." I took a deep breath. "Someone came up with a fake letter and sent it to everyone. It must have been to gather us all here."

"Why gather us here?" Arthur asked. "We all want to get the chip. Why gather enemies in one place?"

I paused. We all thought about what Arthur said.

"To try something back home?" Kiku suggested. We all looked at him. "Maybe this person wants to do something to our homelands."

Everyone paled and drew out cellphones to call people. After some more talking and yelling, everyone put the phones away.

'"Nothing is wrong at my place." Ludwig said.

Everyone agreed with Ludwig's theory. No homes had been hurt.

"So why are we here?" Alfred asked. "I mean, who would?"

"It was me." Someone tall stepped out into the clearing. It was the man in the park with the grey hair and lead pipe. He gave me a smile that sent chills down my spine. "You come with me, da?"

"Ivan, don't you dare!" Arthur yelled.

Yao snapped his fingers and his guards were pointing guns at the man called Ivan. Ivan smiled at Yao. Yao froze, scared.

"Don't try anything, da?" Ivan said. "You will keep your guards watching over everyone. No one should move." He turned to Kiku. "Put down your sword." He said. Kiku put his sword down and kicked it across the courtyard so he couldn't reach for it.

"Let go of me!" Alfred yelled, trying to get away from the guards. "Ivan! Don't hurt her!"

Ivan turned and smiled at Alfred. "I won't." He said. "Not yet."

He turned to me, a cold fire in his eyes. "You want to come with me, da?" He said.

"Ivan! Why bring us here?" Ludwig yelled. Everyone seemed to try and distract Ivan. I didn't know why.

"It's simple, da?" Ivan said. "I wanted to make sure you were all here!"

"Why, you bastard?" Lovi yelled.

"Because I didn't want any funny business going on behind my back." Ivan said. He smiled at everyone. "As of this time, all your capitols have bombs on them." He acted like he was telling them what he wanted from Starbuck's. "I have bombs on London, Washington D.C., Berlin, every capitol! Now, you won't move, or else I'll explode the bombs." Everyone froze. Not like they would lose their capitol, but like they would lose their lives.

Ivan smiled at Yao. "Don't try anything, China. I have bombs here, too."

"China? Did you just call Yao 'China'?" I asked. Ivan turned to me.

"Oh, you don't know? Well, come with me and I'll tell you all about it." He said. "You'll come, da?"

"Run!" Ludwig screamed. Everyone yelled for me to run away. I did. If so many people didn't like this guy, I shouldn't either.

I took off across the courtyard, but a bullet stopped me. I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder as I fell to the ground. Ivan nodded at the guard who was ordered to shoot me and walked over to me. I growled as the man came near me. He slapped me across the face.

"Don't try anything, da?" He asked.

"Burn in hell!" I screamed. I tried to get up, but Ivan grabbed me by my hair and pushed me down again. My head started to sink to the ground with the pain of Ivan pulling my hair. I tried to stand up, but my legs were too weak to move. Ivan raised his lead pipe.

"I'm going to knock you out now. So you won't run."

Feli screamed. I closed my eyes and looked down. _I might die _was my only thought.

My head snapped up when I heard a familiar voice say: "Don't worry. She's not going to run away."

Ivan lowered his weapon and stood aside so I could see the man come out from the shadows. My blood turned cold and I coughed up blood from the shock.

It was my brother, Bradley. He had brown hair and glasses. He was wearing a white doctor coat and jeans and a t-shirt. He smiled at me.

"Hey there, Rebel." He said.

His nickname for me made me think of a memory.

_I was seven._ _I was crying. I ran into my mother's arms and confessed to her: "Brad called me a hellion!" _

_My mother turned to Brad, who was hiding in the corner of the room. "I didn't mean it!" He yelled. _

"_Why would you call your sister a hellion?" My mother demanded. _

_My brother looked down. He didn't say anything. _

"_He told me my name meant 'birthday' but he thought it should mean 'hellion' because that's what I am!" I cried. "Because I'm different and I don't follow orders."_

_My mother sighed. "Look, Brad: you can't call your sister a hellion. It's not nice, ok?" _

"_I'm sorry, Nattie." Brad said. "You're just…different." _

_I cried again. My mother patted my back. _

"_It's ok to be different. You're not a hellion. You're a rebel!" Mother said. "And the world needs rebels. They are the ones who dare to be different." _

_Brad sniffled and looked up at me. "Can I call you Rebel then?" _

"_Sure." I said, wiping away my tears. "You can call me Rebel. I like the name Rebel." _

_We were so innocent back then. A name like Rebel. I loved him so much and I knew he loved me. _

I snapped back to reality and glared at him. "Don't you dare call me that." I said.

"Should I call you Hellion then?" He smiled. His smile was twisted and evil looking.

I stood up. Everyone stared at us. I could hear Feli whimper.

"I like the coat." I said.

Brad smiled. "I'm a doctor now. I finished school." He said.

"Mom would be proud of you." I whispered. "But I don't think she's proud right now, Brad."

"Shut up!" He suddenly yelled.

"Aw, what's wrong, Brad? You sell your sister off and now you regret it?" I started to walk over to him. Ivan stood to the side to watch the story unfold. "What about the time you saved me from drowning? The time we went camping and you overreacted about a small hole in the tent? Do those mean anything to you?"

He smiled the same twisted smile. "Nope. I forgot those."

I stopped and stared at him. My blood went cold. "You are sick."

"I know. I love the feeling." Brad said.

"You heartless bastard." I growled.

"Aw, Rebel! Don't call me such bad names! Mom would wash your mouth out with soap. Oh, wait! She's dead-" He said.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" I screamed. "Don't bring mom into this! Don't you dare!" I clenched my fists.

"Why? I've already disobeyed her several times already. Talking about her won't make her mad, right? She's dead!" He laughed.

"No!" I screamed. I covered my ears. "Don't! Just don't!"

"Is little Rebel hiding from her meanie brother? That's too bad! I wanted to play with my little sister!" He smiled again.

I opened my eyes, a renewed fire burning inside me. I fought with Ludwig in Feli's kitchen. I was able to fend off Francis in his room. But none of them ever saw me fight like this. I was an animal.

I ran headfirst for my brother. I heard someone yell. I think it was Arthur. But I didn't notice. I just ran for Brad. I raised my fist. I was too fast for him. I punched him in the jaw.

"How dare you! How dare you do this to me! To mom!" I screamed.

Brad stood up and reached for Kiku's sword. I kicked it out of the way. Brad scrambled up. I glared at my brother. "Leave. Don't ever come back home. Don't ever talk to my family again."

Brad backed up. I turned to walk away, but I turned back when I heard Alfred yell: "Watch out!" I turned and grabbed Kiku's sword in my hand. The blade cut my hand, but if I didn't catch it, it would have cut my neck. Brad glared at me. His hands were shaky as he held the sword.

"You're not going anywhere, Rebel!" He said. I kicked my brother in the stomach. He swung the sword. I ducked and grabbed him around the neck. I was really an animal. I tried to crush his neck with my arms. My brother dropped the sword and reached for me. He grabbed me by my own neck. I gasped for air and tried to pry his hands off of me.

"No! Let her go!" Feli screamed. He was about to cry. "Please! Don't!"

"Keep them all there!" Brad yelled to his tall friend. "Don't let any of them get away!"

He turned to the group, still holding me by the neck. "You all love her? Well, watch her die!"

He turned back to me. "I wish I let you drown at the beach, Rebel." He said.

I turned and bit his arm. He screamed and threw me across the courtyard. The hard stones made me scrape my arms and back. I spat out a piece of Brad's arm. I got back up and ran at him again. I was not going to let him live. He didn't deserve it.

"Don't! Just run, Natalina!" Arthur yelled. "Don't!"

I stopped and turned to him. Arthur had panic in his eyes. "Don't die! Just run!"

I shook my head. "I can't. I need to do this."

"Do what, Rebel?" Brad asked.

I smiled at him. "I need to kill you." I said. "You need me for something important. I don't like it."

I ran at him. I had never seen or been a part of a fight like this. We both fought dirty. I ran my hand across his face like claws. He punched me in the face. I tried to rip out his hair. I wanted to hurt him. Anything that would let me see a weak spot. When I went to the ground, he kicked me, sending me flying like a ragdoll. I hit the stone wall of the courtyard and fell to the ground.

"Get the hell off of me! I need to save her!" I heard Ludwig yell.

"Natalina-san! Natalina-san! Get up!" I heard Kiku yell.

"Don't you die, you bitch! I need you here!" Arthur yelled.

"Please get up! Run!" Alfred sobbed.

"Natalina! Oh, my Natalina!" Francis yelled.

"Let go of me! Natalina!" Antonio screamed.

"Get the hell off the goddamn floor and get the hell out of here!" Lovino yelled.

"_Bella!_" Feli wailed.

"Run!" Yao screamed.

I smiled at all of them. My breath was shaky and I could feel blood in my lungs. Hey, they loved me. Love…it's special. I experienced a lot of love. I loved love.

Then I felt cheap again. Why did I forget them all? So soon? I guess it was because I wanted to forget the people like Francis, but I ended up lumping Antonio, Feli, Ludwig, Arthur, Alfred, all of them, together with memories I didn't want to be seen with. I didn't want to remember fighting with Arthur, so I tried to forget him. I didn't want to think about the hospital trip from hell with Alfred, so I tried to forget him. No. Now I was making excuses. This wasn't right of me. It wasn't love. I felt really, really, really cheap.

I looked up as my brother and the tall man came into my blurry field of vision. I smiled at the two men.

"I know you won't let me die quick, but let God and my mother and everyone have mercy on your souls. You'll need it." I said. I blacked out.

***_**More thanks to reviews! **_

_**Notes: Please vote on the polls! You are all such great help to me! I can't stress that any more. **_

_**Also, my sister uploaded her story! It's called "I Hate this Stupid Love!" and it's a Romano and OC pairing based off of history. Let's welcome my sister to the addicting world of FanFiction and read her story! If you like this fanfic, I bet you'll like my sister's! **_

_**Dark storyline to come ahead…beware…bwahahaha….*****_


	19. Chapter 19

_*****More blood. More violence. More drama. More epicness! More explosions! More angst! More tears! More- sorry. Got carried away…*****_

I slowly opened my eyes. The room was dark. Only lit with small lights that came though tiny windows that were too high and too small to climb out of. I slowly stood up and looked around. I was passed out of the floor, until now. There were two chairs and a small table in the room. It was a prison cell that was done to look nice. I rubbed my eyes and looked at my arm. It was still bleeding, but it was wrapped up. Not the nice job of medicine like Arthur.

Arthur. The others. …Shit. I paced back and forth. So, I must be captured by my brother, right? Where was I? Where was everyone else? I felt like hitting my head against a wall. Nothing to do in a prison cell, so why don't I stew over my bad past? It seemed like a great idea. I paced back and forth, trying to find out where I went wrong, when my brother came in, followed by Ivan.

My brother held a bunch of pictures in his hand. "These are good photos, Ivan. Your spies did a great job of catching my sister being a little slut." He sat down and let the pictures fall to the ground. I grabbed a few and looked through them.

They were all pictures of me with the others that were after the chip. Me with Arthur on his tea table. Me and Feli on his bed, kissing. Alfred and me riding through the streets of New York. Ludwig and me talking in his basement when I was chained to his brother's cot. Francis and me on his couch. Antonio and me dancing in the club. Lovi crushing himself against me so I wouldn't get away. Kiku and me kissing at the firework show. Yao and me watching the dancers. I flipped through the pictures.

"Yeah, those are lots of men, sis." My brother said.

I looked up at him and coolly said: "How dare you judge me."

He paused. "What did you say?"

"How dare you judge me!" I raised my voice. "You don't know anything! You don't know what happened to me! You set me up! You let them do this to me!"

"I know, sad." My brother said. "I wished that they would just get rid of you, but they had to play that little love game. But do you know what?" He gave me a sick smile. "You let them! You let them take you in and wrap you up in their little love world that they made. You dropped each and every one of them like a hot potato!" He stood up. "You call me sick and heartless? Well, look at yourself! You forgot every single one of them!"

"No!" I yelled. "You're wrong! I never forgot any of them!" My mouth was running faster than my brain. "You don't know any of them! You don't know me!" I clutched the pictures to my chest. "I learned a lot from them!" I took a deep breath.

"Arthur taught me how to be kind." I said as I thought about him catching me from the gate.

"Feli taught me how to relax." I said as I thought about him purring: "Relax, _bella_, relax" in my ear.

"Alfred taught me how to have fun!" I yelled. I thought about Alfred taking me around New York City.

"Ludwig taught me how to be strong in the worst of things!" I said. I thought about Ludwig holding me on his bathroom floor as I cried.

"Francis and Antonio taught me to love myself because that's as important as, if not more than, other people loving you!" I thought about the way that both men held me in his arms and whispered little sweet sayings in my ear.

"Lovi taught me that…that…" I took a deep breath. "I have a right to say what's on my own goddamn mind! I don't care what you think!" I yelled.

"Kiku taught me how to be so sweet without having to be Francis or Antonio! Yao taught me how to be innocent!" I pointed a finger at my brother. "They all taught me what love means! You know nothing about what these people have done for me! I will be far greater than you because of what they taught me! You will never be great at anything! Don't you judge me until you meet each of these people yourself, you bastard!"

My brother smiled. "But did you have to be so slutty about it?"

I stood up tall. This man wasn't my brother. He was a stranger. "I wasn't. Be in my shoes. While every single man I met tried to win my heart, I was thinking about you. And how you betrayed me. I had a lot on my mind." I paused. "I'm like a princess. I just need to find that perfect guy. " I quoted Alfred when we were talking in his room. "I was trusted with the information to rule the world. No one wrapped me up in his own love world. I did." I raised my voice even more. "It's my fault. There. I said it. Are you happy now? What if I said I was a slut? Would it make you feel any better? Huh?" I pushed him in the chest.

Brad sighed. "You let them twist your mind. I should know better than to trust those damn freaks."

"They are not freaks!" I yelled.

Brad smiled. "Really? Well, you don't know the truth: they are not human."

I paused. "What?"

Brad laughed. "You let them strip you naked, but you didn't know anything about them?"

"No one got that far with me." I snapped. "What do you mean, 'not human'?"

Ivan coughed. Brad glanced at him and then nodded.

"Sorry sis, but we're going to get that chip from you now. I'm wasting my time." Brad said.

"What? What's with this sudden burst of information?" I asked. "What are you trying to do, Brad?"

He smiled. "Why you, Rebel? Why did Mom choose you?"

I blinked. "You knew about this chip all along?"

Brad nodded. "I opened all those letters up before your birthdays. I'd reseal it and give it to you. I knew about you before you knew about yourself. Why you? Why did mom choose you for the chip?" He turned angry and kicked a chair. "I'm the older brother! I'm supposed to carry the weight of the family! I'm supposed to be strong! Not my little sister! No!"

Brad snapped his fingers. Ivan came over to me, a knife in his hand.

"I'm sorry, sis, but Ivan here has the best view of this. Skip the whole 'love game' and kill you. It was the best option. I joined forces with him." Brad smiled. "Watch as Russia becomes the greatest nation of all. Watch them rule the world."

I turned to Ivan. "Russian, huh? That explains your accent." I said. I smiled at both of them. "I won't give up without a fight." I said.

Brad sighed. "Must you be a hellion? Fine. We'll find a way."

I was thrown to the ground. It would be too graphic to describe how they everything to me, but the results were that I had two broken ribs, three broken fingers, ten major cuts, twenty smaller cuts when I dodged the knife that Ivan held and one twisted ankle. I looked up at my brother, who stood over me, smiling.

"Will you give in now?" He asked.

I slowly stood up. I felt like paper in the wind. I just wanted to give in. I just wanted the rain to hit me. So I could go back to earth. Even if the rain would destroy the paper that I am. But I couldn't. I had things to say to different people. I couldn't leave without telling them how I felt.

"No. Not yet." I said in a shaky breath.

Brad sighed and looked at Ivan. "I'm sorry she's so much trouble."

Ivan gave me that smile that sent chills down my spine. "No problem. I like this."

Ivan grabbed my hand and clenched his own around it. I screamed when I felt one of my fingers snap under Ivan's grip. Ivan punched me in the jaw. I wasn't fighting back anymore, like I was when they first tried to take the chip. It was torture for fun now. I fell to the ground and looked up at my brother and Ivan. This was not happening. I couldn't lose now.

"Well, that took a while." My brother said. "We're just going to take it now."

"You can't have the chip." I growled.

Brad sighed. "Stubborn as always. Let's take the chip now, Ivan."

"With pleasure." Ivan said. He smiled at me. "It was nice to meet you, da?"

I didn't have time to say anything when the knife entered my heart.

I don't know how long I was there, on the ground. I looked up at the ceiling. My vision went hazy, which created dots, dancing in front of me. The knife didn't go all the way through my heart, it went in enough for Brad to be able to get a small, beeping computer chip. The knife also went in far enough to be lethal to me. In a few hours. I was holding my hand over my heart, to stop the bleeding. I was in so much pain, I felt like I would faint. But I didn't. I make myself stay awake. I needed to find a way to get up. But I couldn't move. I couldn't even lift a finger.

I started to close my eyes, thinking that this was all over, when I heard the door open and someone scream: "Jesus Christ, we found her! She's over here!" That voice and dirty mouth could only be Lovino.

I heard people run into the room. I couldn't move, though. I couldn't run to them like I wanted to. I was almost dead. I heard each and every one of them react to me. I could hear Feliciano breaking down. I think I heard Alfred gag and leave the room to retch. Kiku gasped and muttered something under his breath in a shaky voice. Yao kept yelling my name. I could hear Ludwig trying to hold everyone back. Antonio and Francis tried to run over, but someone picked up my upper half in their arms and yelled at the two lovers: "Don't come near her!"

"England put her down!" Ludwig yelled at the man holding me. Wait, England?

"Don't you dare call me by that name! I'm still Arthur! And you can't tell me what to do!" Arthur yelled.

"You're going to disturb the body!" Ludwig yelled.

As a reply, Arthur held me closer to himself. I wanted to say something. I wasn't dead yet! God, these people over-reacted. But when I felt his heart against my cheek, I felt bad for him. Arthur's heart was pounding like he ran a marathon.

"Don't. Don't come near her." He repeated.

"She means something to all of us! Now please, before you throw yourself out a window, put her down!" Yao yelled.

I tried to make a sound. I tried to move my arms, my mouth, anything to let them know that I was alive. I felt tears coming to my eyes. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to them, it wasn't fair to me. God, if there's a way to let them know I'm listening, please let me know.

"She's crying!" Feli yelled.

"She's crying?" His brother asked.

"She's crying!" Feli repeated.

"Holy shit! She's crying!" Lovino yelled.

Arthur held me away from him to look at my face. It was true. I was crying because I was sad about how they were acting. I never knew that my tears would save me. At that moment, my heart gave out on me. I felt like my lungs were being crushed. I gave a ragged gasp and everyone ran over to me.

"England, can you use magic?" Ludwig asked.

"It's been decades!" Arthur said.

"Try it!" Alfred said. "We need to start CPR!"

"I'll do the mouth to mouth!" Francis offered.

"No. Not you." Alfred said. "I'll do chest compressions. Yao, Kiku, you two switch for mouth to mouth. Toni, Francis, you two find where the hell Gilbert went off to. I think he ran after Ivan." I felt Alfred's hands on my chest as he started chest compressions. I heard him counting under his breath to thirty.

"Yao! Now! Two deep breaths." Alfred said.

Yao gave me two mouth-to-mouth breaths. I felt air fill into my lungs. I spluttered as the blood in my lungs came out through the hole in my heart.

"Shit. Feli, give me your shirt." I heard Alfred say. I felt cloth being pressed against my heart, to hold back the blood. It was then, I heard something that sounded like chalk against stone near my ear.

"You call that a damn circle? This is why the Italians are good at art!" I heard Lovi yell.

"Then you draw the bloody circle!" Arthur yelled back.

"I will!" Lovi said. I wondered what was going on, as my eyes were closed.

"Yao, Kiku, switch out!" Alfred said. I felt Kiku's lips to mine as he gave me mouth to mouth.

"Shit, you're losing a lot of blood, Nat." Alfred said. "Hurry up with the magic stuff, Arthur."

"I'm doing my best, America! Hold your horses!" Arthur yelled. America? What?

"There! Done!" Lovi yelled. "Start chanting!"

I heard Arthur muttering something, only to stop.

"What the hell is wrong, asshole?" Lovi shouted.

"I don't have enough power." Arthur said. "Ludwig, come here. I need you to help."

I felt Arthur scrape the blood off of my skin. "I need you to put this on your wrist." He said.

"Sure." Ludwig said. "I'll do anything."

"Your strength is enough already." Arthur said.

He started chanting again. Kiku gave me more mouth to mouth. I spluttered again.

"Hurry it up, England!" Alfred yelled.

I couldn't stay awake any more. I passed out as I heard Feli shout. "What's with that green light, Arthur?"


	20. Chapter 20

_*****Last chapter! Yay! **_

_**Warnings: Sadness and an ending**_

_**I do not own Hetalia. If I did…If…I'm sorry. I'm out of smart retorts…*****_

The light was bright. And white. And clean. I opened my eyes fully. The room smelled like cleaners. I heard a soft beeping sound. I slowly sat up and found myself in a hospital room. There were flowers all around me. When I took off one of the cards on a nearby bouquet, it read: "To Natalina: Feel better so I can bring pasta to you! Yours, Feli". I smiled and started grabbing cards off of the flowers to read them.

"_They really love you."_ Someone said. I jumped and turned to see Tony the alien sitting in a chair next to me.

"Hey Tony." I said. "What are you doing here?"

"_I came to see you." _He spoke to me telepathically. _"Everyone is outside in the waiting room." _

"Oh. I see." I said. "Are they going to come in?"

"_They don't know you are up. And they are fighting for who gets to see you first." _The alien said.

I nodded. "What happened to me?"

"_Arthur used magic to heal your heart, but you were still bleeding. They flew you to this hospital so the doctors could take care of you." _

"Where am I?" I asked.

"_In Sweden." _Tony said. _"Closest and the best place for you from where we were." _

"You said they flew me?"

"_America is a pilot." _

I blinked. "You mean Alfred, right? Not America. America is a country."

"_Arthur will tell you. He's coming here now." _

"Thanks, Tony." I said.

"_They really love you." _He said. _"Alfred slept with your clothes. Arthur started drinking. Ludwig became quiet. Feli cried. Francis moved on to the next girl. Antonio didn't work in the fields. Kiku didn't go to any festivals. Yao-" _

"Are you bent on making me feel horrible?" I asked.

"_Don't. They feel just as bad as you do. They admit to trying to win your heart in sexual ways. Francis even-" _

"Don't go there." I said. "TMI, Tony."

"_Need to go. See you." _The alien said.

"Nice seeing you Tony. I like your English." I said.

"_Bitch." _Tony said. I sat up straight.

"What did you say to me?" I asked. Alfred mentioned something about the alien having Tourette's, but I never thought I'd hear it. Tony got off the seat and started to leave. The little alien ran into Arthur, who was coming into the room. They glared at each other. Tony said something along the lines of: _"Limey" _before leaving the room. I didn't know how Tony avoided the nurses, but somehow he did. Arthur growled at Tony and then turned to me.

My stomach sank at the sight of the man. I had a lot of explaining to do. I felt tears well up in my eyes at the thought of trying to tell him what I did since I left his house. I disappointed all of them.

Arthur gave me a sad smile. He seemed to read my mind. Or my face. "What's wrong?" He asked kindly, as if he was addressing a child. His green eyes locked with mine.

I broke down. He slowly sat down on the edge of my bed and wrapped an arm around me. His arms were just as warm as ever.

Everything went wrong in about two months. How could life torture me like this? I just didn't like it. I hated it. I hated everything that happened. If there was one thing in life I could take back, it would be telling my date that I couldn't go out to dinner, so these people that treated me like a princess didn't have to live with me.

I ended up blurting all of this to Arthur. After a little silence, he started to chuckle.

"What so funny?" I asked, my face pressed against his chest.

"_You're _funny." Arthur said. He grew quiet. "We are all to blame. You were just a victim of what we did." He looked away from me. "And I am sorry for what I said to you. You have a right to forget me and move on."

"But I did that to all of you!" I said. "I feel like I should have a reason for what I did, but I don't…"

Arthur took a deep breath. "Look, I know the last time I said 'forget' something, you ended up rightly walking out, but could you try to forget what has happened over the past month? We need to focus on Ivan."

"Speaking of Ivan. And people going after the chip" I started. I took a deep breath. "I have something I need to ask."

Arthur backed up from our embrace and furrowed his eyebrows. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"What are you?" I asked. "My brother said you guys are not…" I trailed off.

"Human?" Arthur ventured. I nodded my head. Arthur sighed. "It's true." He closed his eyes. "None of us are human."

"What are you then?" I asked. I wasn't afraid of anything un-human. They were kind to me and I didn't feel I would be hurt by them.

Arthur looked down. "I-I don't know." He blinked. "We…we just live so long…" He sighed. "I should tell you the plain truth: we are countries. We are human countries. I know, it sounds odd."

"No." I said. "I want to know. Tell me."

"We don't know what we are. We don't know where we came from. We were born like regular people and we were given regular human names. But we age differently. We stayed young for thousands of years. But we would age eventually. Then, at different points in our lives, we found we affected different countries. We would get mad and there would be a great rainstorm. We fall and there would be an earthquake." Arthur paused. "There's a price, though. If humans affected our lands, we would be affected. Alfred," He winced, "or America, as his country name is, suffered bleeding on his leg when Pearl Harbor was hit. Japan, or Kiku, still hasn't recovered from the atomic bombs that ended WWII." He looked at me. "Are you still following?"

"How do you live like that?" I asked.

Arthur was quiet. "It's hard. Because you affect your country, people treat you like a god. Just so you won't try and hurt yourself just to get back at the country itself." He crossed his arms. "But you feel like a freak."

"How did you guys meet each other?" I asked.

"Some say it's fate. But a lot of us meet when we discover a new land. When I heard that my explorers got a hold of the Americas, I took that time to travel there myself and see if this country had a person like me to go with it. I met baby America, or Alfred. We find each other when we hear that a country found a 'superhero'." Arthur sighed. "It's a hard life. Most of us are treated like royalty. Alfred got away with a small apartment because it's where he felt most at home. He threatened to punch himself in the face, which would cause a major earthquake in Texas."

"And when Nat was at my house, Florida reached a record high temperature!" Some yelled in a loud voice at the door. Both Arthur and I jumped and turned to see Alfred standing at the door.

Alfred made a beeline for me and gave me a bear hug that crushed my lungs. A nurse ran into the room and yelled in bad English: "Careful of the IV!"

Alfred looked down at the tube in my arm. "Oh. Sorry, Nat."

"Mumf moom maay." I said through his chest. I meant to say: "It's ok." As a side note, Alfred still smelled like hamburgers.

Alfred released me and the nurse left; satisfied that Alfred would no longer crush me.

"Yo, Arthur, your time's up. Leave." Alfred waved him off.

"She's done with the game that Feli forced everyone to play." Arthur said. "Leave her alone or I'll come back in and beat you up."

Alfred gave a loud laugh. "I'm America! You can't beat me!"

When Arthur left, Alfred gave me an ear-to-ear grin. "How are ya doin'?" He asked.

"I'm fine." I said. "I'm hooked up to more machines than I've ever been in my life."

"Yeah, you took a good one from Ivan and your brother." Alfred said.

I nodded. He put his arm around me and crushed me against himself again. "Heard you talked to Tony." He said.

"I had a heart-to-heart with a creature from a different planet. It that weird?" I asked.

"Nah, I do that all the time." Alfred said.

I laughed. "Have a conversation with something from a different planet?"

"Yep!" Alfred said.

"It must get lonely, talking to yourself." I joked.

Alfred processed the joke before glaring at me. "Hey!" He said. "That's cruel!"

I smiled and backed away slowly from his hug. My neck was about to break and I didn't want to mislead him again. I screwed everything up as it was. I needed to start backing off and slowing things down since the whole 'love game' thing.

"So you're America?" I asked.

"Yep! U.S.A.! Red, White and Blue! Made in America!" Alfred boasted.

"Is it hard to be a living country?" I asked.

"Nah. I like it." Alfred said. "It's fun! You can really mess with people with the whole 'I'm a king to you all' stuff. No one really knows about us on a normal people level, so I can walk around and shop and stuff. It's no big deal." He frowned. "But getting bombed kinda hurts."

"I'm sorry about that." I said.

"But it's funny to experiment and see what happens." Alfred said. "Everyone is really tight about getting hurt and stuff, but if I dump water on myself, I can make it rain anywhere in the U.S."

"So you don't take a shower unless you want to soak everything?" I asked, smiling.

Alfred winked at me. "That's the thing: it has to be a surprise! When you know that you're going to get wet, it won't rain."

"What if you knew that there was going to be a bombing?" I asked.

"There has never been an expected bombing in the U.S." Alfred said. "And bombings usually aren't in the same 'expected' time zone as say, a shower. Ask Britain, sorry, Arthur. During WWII, he had lots of bomb stuff going on."

I nodded. Things were _starting_ to make sense now. As silence filled the air, I finally said: "Thanks for the CPR."

Alfred looked down at me and smiled. "Welcome, babe! I wasn't about to let my TV parody buddy die on me!" He smiled. "You mean a lot to us. I mean, not just love, because several people liked you a lot, but you really brought life back to a race of beings that was missing for quite some time."

"Th-thank you." It was all I was able to say.

Suddenly, Alfred winced. I looked up at him. "Are you ok?" I asked.

"I'm…I'm fine…" He said. "It's just a headache. Well, a protest in D.C., but it feels like a headache to me."

I was fascinated by how someone could be affected by a country. "Do you need me to call a nurse?" I asked.

"Nah, I'm fine. I can live through it." Alfred said. "It just came up suddenly. That's all."

"Oh. I see. Well, let me know if it gets bad." I said.

"Thanks, mommy." Alfred mocked.

"Hey, I care too, you know!" I said.

"Thanks, babe." Alfred said.

"Alfred?" I asked.

"What?"

"It's not 'babe'." I smiled.

"Well, that seems like a fine place to wrap that goddamn long conversation." A gruff voice said from the door.

Feliciano and Lovino came into the room. Feli ran and gave me a Styrofoam box. When I opened it up, I found a plate of pasta in front of me.

"The food here tastes like shit." Lovi said.

Alfred gave me one more bear hug before he took off, his hands in his pockets. I was able to see him give me a quick sideways smile before going out of view.

"I brought you pasta! I had to cook in the cafeteria here. They have no spices for pasta! Isn't that horrible?" Feliciano cried.

I smiled coyly. I had an experiment in mind. "It sure is terrible, Italy." I said.

Both the brothers looked up, shock on their faces.

"Shit. Who told you?" Lovi asked.

"Arthur, I mean England." I said. I looked at Feli. "So are you the country of Italy's un-praised king?"

Feli nodded. "Yeah! But they give me lots of pasta, so I'm happy!" He said. He hugged his brother happily. "_Fratello_ here is South Italy. I'm North Italy!"

I smiled. "So you two are split?"

Lovi rolled his eyes. "Yeah. We were both together as kids, but that bastard Antonio took me away."

Note to self, find out what country Antonio is tied to.

"How are you feeling, _bella_?" Feli asked.

"I'm feeling fine." I said. "A little sore, but I'm good."

"That's good. Get better so we can get you the hell out of here." Lovino said, trying to pry his brother away from him.

"Aiya! You take to long! Let me see her!" Yao came into the room. He was holding a stuffed animal in his arms.

Feli hugged me. I frowned. "Look, Feli, I didn't mean to leave you for Alfred like-"

"Hush, _bella." _Feli said. "The game was fun to play! Come to my house for pasta sometime, ok?"

Lovino rolled his eyes again. "You sure get over things quickly, _fratello_." Lovi turned to me and smiled. "We've got to go. By the way: nice ass." He smirked and both the Italians left.

Yao ran over and gave me the stuffed animal, which was a turtle. "I thought is was really cute!" He said. "How are you feeling?"

I was considering putting up a sign that said: "Natalina is feeling fine today. Don't ask her again", but I smiled at Yao and said: "I'm fine, Yao, how are you?"

"Better, now that I'm with you!" He said.

I smiled at him. I tried guessing what country he represented. "So, are you China?" I guessed.

Yao jumped at my words. "H-How did you know?" he asked.

Scratch the first sign. I want the sign outside my door to say: "Yes, Natalina knows what you all are."

I smiled at Yao. "Arthur told me."

Yao nodded. "I represent the country of China. The people who found me made sure I was treated like a king. That's why I have a big house and lots of servants."

"It must be nice." I said.

Yao frowned. "Sometimes. I wish that I could have a life like America. He gets away with so much stuff and he doesn't have people following him around all the time."

I smiled at him. "Why don't you sit down?" I asked.

Yao sat on the edge of my bed. He furrowed his eyebrows together. "Hey Natalina?" He asked.

"What is it?" I asked.

"What's a 'type'?" He asked. "As in, you're not my 'type'."

I blinked. "Oh. A 'type' is a person that you tend to like. As in, some girls only like boys with black hair, so boys with black hair are their 'type'."

He nodded. "I see…"

"Why do you ask?" I looked at him.

"I just…I don't know…are you…are you my type?" Yao asked.

I smiled. "You have to decide yourself." I said.

"Oh." He furrowed his brows again. "I just…well…Feli said that someone might be able to get the chip if you fell in love with someone…but I don't know…"

"That's just Feli." I said. "He got me in more trouble over that 'idea' than anything else that happened." I smiled. "Yao, if you were playing that game of Feli's, I don't mind if you don't like me."

Yao frowned. "But you're nice…but I don't know if…" He shook his head. "Today's lingo is so confusing! Natalina, tell me what to say!" I smiled. Was I scripting a 'breakup' between Yao and me?

"Well, how about something like this: " I tried not to laugh as I went on. "'I don't think you're my type, but I'd like to hang with you and be friends.'" I know, the dreaded: "Just be friends" line, but it seemed best for this situation.

"Oh. Ok!" Yao said. He took a deep breath. "Natalina, you are very nice and kind, but I don't think you're my type. I'd like to stay friends with you so I have someone to watch the dancers in Beijing and go shopping with me. Is that ok?" He said.

I smiled. "That's fine Yao, I'd like to be your friend as well."

"Oh no! Did I cause a 'breakup'? Are you going to go cry in your room now? Should I make up and…uh…." Yao blinked, confused about what to say.

I leaned forward and hugged Yao. "This game twisted my head as much as yours. Let's be friends for now and take it from there."

Yao nodded. "Ok…that's fine, for now…yeah…for now…"

I couldn't help but smile. Yao was acting really weird. "Yao? I need to ask you something." I said.

"What is that?" Yao asked.

"How old are you?" I asked. "You never told me when I was at your house."

Yao smiled. "Well, since you know about 'our kind', I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you that I'm 4000 years old."

I blinked. "What?" I asked. "You're not saying…"

Yao nodded. "4000 years old. That's right." He said.

"Arthur wasn't lying about the way you guys age." I shook my head in disbelief.

"Well, that's if I was a human. We gave ratios to our real and human ages. Arthur is about 23, Alfred would be 19 and I'd be 4000." Yao said.

I smiled. "Old man." I joked. Yao gave me a fake pouty face and then we both laughed.

"Excuse me." I heard someone say. We both turned and saw Kiku standing at the door. Yao stood up and hugged me.

"I'll see you later." Yao said. He turned and left, leaving Kiku and me alone.

"I'm sorry to scare Yao off. I could leave, if you want-" Kiku started.

"Sit down, Japan." I smiled at my new names for them. This game of guessing the countries was fun!

'Japan' jumped at his other name. "How did you know?" He asked.

Again, I want a sign outside my room.

"Arthur told me." I said.

Kiku sighed. "Yes. I am Japan."

"Arthur said you hadn't recovered from…" I trailed off. I realized he might not want to talk about it.

"From the bombs during WWII? Yes. I'm still hurting from that. But not as bad." Kiku said.

I reached for his hand. "Gosh. I'm sorry, Kiku." I said.

"It's not your fault. My boss didn't give up about fighting. America had a right to end it quickly." Kiku said.

"But it took two bombs! Your boss shouldn't have pushed you like that! What happened if-" I started.

Kiku put a finger to my lips. "It's ok. It's all over. America and I are friends now. That was all in the past." He said.

I frowned. "I'm just worried about you."

Kiku blushed. "Th-thank you, Natalina-san." He said. He awkwardly leaned forward, as if to kiss me. I felt that I owed him my love, but I had already misled many people. I needed to set things straight.

"Ah! Come back!" I heard someone yell. I turned to see Gilbert, Antonio and Francis bound into the room, with Ludwig behind them.

Gilbert attacked me with a hug on one side, Antonio on the other and Francis trying to crawl over me. I gave a small yelp as all three men lovingly attacked me. Ludwig and Kiku pulled the three guys off of me.

"Wa! I missed you, my love!" Francis wailed.

"Come! Kiss me! Kiss me!" Antonio said, his arms stretched out.

Gilbert just gave me a wink with one red eye. I looked at Ludwig, who was busy holding off all three men with Kiku. I guessed that Francis was the country of France, Ludwig was Germany, Antonio was Spain and Gilbert…Who the heck knows what Gilbert is…

"Keep your hormones to yourself! All of you!" Ludwig complained.

"Alright! We'll calm down!" Gilbert said. "Just let me see my girly!"

I rolled my eyes but watched Gilbert and the rest crowd around me. "How are you feeling?" Gilbert asked.

"I'm fine, thank you." I said.

"She's fine, now that she's with _me_." Francis purred.

"Shut up, Francis." Antonio said. "We're in the presence of a lady."

"Oh, I know." Francis said in one of the most perverted ways I've ever heard.

Kiku growled. "Do you three have anything nice to say to Natalina-san?"

All three men shook their heads. Gilbert jumped as if a light bulb (rarely) went on.

"Ah! Yes! Girly, I've got something-" He started, reaching into his pocket.

Ludwig put a hand on his shoulder. His face seemed grave. "Wait for the others." Ludwig said.

"What's wrong?" I asked. This visit was different from the others. Ludwig went out into the hall and waved everyone in. They seemed nervous.

"We've got two things for you." Ludwig said. "First off:" Ludwig smiled. "Someone's here to see you."

I furrowed my brows trying to think of who would want to see me. I heard someone come into the room and looked up as everyone made room for the new person.

I gasped and covered my mouth, my eyes and mouth wide open.

"D-Dad?" I asked in a shaky voice.

There, in the room, was my father. His skin was wrinkled and his eyes drooped. It was from his drinking. But he looked brighter than usual. For once in his lifetime since my mother died, my father was sober. He smiled at me. His teeth were yellow from the stuff he ate and drank, but it was a smile. His brown hair, which looked like my brother's, except for the bits of white that was in my father's hair, was actually brushed and neat looking.

Tears came to my eyes. I tried jumping out of bed, but everyone lunged at me to stop before I ripped the IV out. My father came over to me and gave me a hug and kissed me on top of my head.

"Oh my God, Dad! I missed you! I missed you so much!" I said, tears soaking into his shirt.

"I missed you too, Nattie." My father said. "Where have you been? What's this chip thing all about? I only heard it from a friend of yours."

I looked up and saw Alfred wink at me. I smiled and turned to my father again.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you later." I said. My father sat behind me so I leaned against his chest. Ludwig coughed and brought me back to earth. I looked up at him. "You said you had something else for me?" I asked.

Everyone, even my father, grew grave again.

"Yes. I have something to show you." Ludwig said. He waved Gilbert over and Gilbert took something from his own pocket. Ludwig took the item and gave it to me. I blinked.

It was a lock of red hair. Red hair like my mother's. It had bits of dried blood in it. My head began to spin and my hands started to shake. My father put his hand on my shoulder.

"I found the lock of Mom's hair that you kept. I brought it here and they did a DNA test while you were getting better." My father said.

I closed my eyes, a tear falling on my cheek. "It's Mom's. Where did you find this?" I asked.

Gilbert stepped forward. "I ran after Ivan. I found a room that had...well…" Gilbert looked down.

"A room that had my mother's body." I finished.

"Yes." Gilbert said. "It had lots of bodies, but one…well, one looked like you." Gilbert said.

I smiled. And then I cried. And then I laughed. I turned and hugged my father, who was doing the same thing. We both laughed and cried.

"Dudes? What wrong?" Alfred asked. I turned to face the young man.

"You don't know what this means to me." I said. "For 11 years, I've been trying to put my mother to rest. We both have." I said, looking at my father.

Everyone tried to move to hug me or comfort me, but my father claimed me first. I curled up next to his chest and cried happy tears. This was the best and worst day of my life.

…

"Are you ok with this?" My father asked me. I nodded my head slowly and got out of the car.

I looked up at the funeral home. It was white with black trimming. This was the 11-year wait of a wake. Finally here, in my hometown in South Carolina. For my mother.

I saw family friends inside. They all hugged me and wished me well. That morning, I was feeling sick, so I came to the wake in the afternoon. All the flowers were daisies and roses. Two of my mother's favorite flowers. I held a tissue in my hand and wiped away a stray tear. I heard a small cough and turned to see Ludwig in the corner of the room. He came over to me. I could feel the glare at Ludwig from my father. Well, he was my father and his favorite song was "Cleaning This Gun". Ludwig gave me a small smile.

"How are you feeling?" Ludwig asked.

I gave a shaky nod. "I'm fine. What are you doing here?"

"I came to pay my respects to your mother." Ludwig said. "Everyone is here."

I gave a weak smile. "Thank you for letting me know. If you see anyone, let them know I want to see them."

"I will." Ludwig said. I gave him a quick hug. My father put a hand on my shoulder. "Do you want to see the body?" He asked.

I nodded and slowly walked towards the doors that lead to the room that had my mother's body. A lot of people brought games or other entertainment until someone would give a few words about my mother at 2:30.

"Hey!" I heard someone call. I turned and saw Alfred and Arthur. Both were holding books. I wondered what it took Arthur to say to Alfred to have him bring a book instead of a game or phone. I gave another weak smile to both of them.

Alfred gave me another one of his death hugs, while Arthur became a gentleman and kissed my hand. I saw a slight blush in Arthur's cheeks. I wondered how many people actually liked me, instead of loving me for the sake of the chip. My father nodded to both men and we continued on.

There were lots of chairs in the room that the body was in. I saw Feliciano trying to talk to one of my school friends. She came up to me and asked me: "And where did you meet so many cute guys?" I smiled at her and we caught up on all the news while I "was away with my aunt traveling the world", instead of the true story about "me running away from several guys who were trying to win my heart while a psycho tried to kill me with the help of my brother". I didn't even try looking in the direction of the coffin. It was at the other end of the room and bunches of people were standing in front of it. After a bit of talking, my father excused me from my conversation. It was like the room went quiet. Everyone watched my father and me. When everyone stopped talking, I could hear soft music. It was "In My Daughter's Eyes" by Martina McBride. It was one of my mother's favorite songs.

"_In my daughter's eyes, _

_I am a hero,_

_I am strong and wise, _

_And I know no fear,_

_But the truth is plain to see,_

_She was sent to rescue me,_

_I see who I want to be,_

_In my daughter's eyes" _

I could feel tears in my eyes. Everyone let us through so I could see the coffin. It was a dark maple color. It was a closed casket wake, as my mother's body was, well, for lack of better words, starting to decompose because the area that Ivan kept her body in didn't store her very well. I had to give my heart out to Gilbert and Ludwig, who went back later and got my mother's body. It was very brave of them to retrieve her body just so my family could put it to rest. On top of the coffin were flowers and a picture of my mother. She had one arm around me and the other one around Brad. Dad was hugging her waist, all of us smiling. My knees went weak and I knelt in front of the coffin and offered a silent prayer to my mother.

"_And when she wraps her hand around my finger,_

_How it puts a smile in my heart,_

_Everything becomes a little clearer,_

_I realize what life is all about," _

I started crying softly, still kneeling.

"_It's hanging on when your heart is had enough,_

_It's giving more when you feel like giving up,_

_I've seen the light,_

_It's in my daughter's eyes"_

I touched the coffin and felt the smooth wood. Even though it was maple wood, I drew a shaky breath and looked at my father, who was standing with the huge crowd of people behind him. I blinked and felt the wood again.

"Oh Dad, she's so cold." I whispered. I knew I wasn't actually touching my mother, just her coffin, but I felt like a little child. My father knelt besides me and hugged me as I broke down slowly.

"_And though she'll grow and someday leave,_

_Maybe raise a family,_

_When I'm gone I hope you see,_

_How happy she made me,_

_For I'll be there,_

_In my daughter's eyes" _

"It's going to be ok. She's at rest now. It's ok." My father said.

My crying turned into soft whimpers. "I wish she was here. Oh God, I wish she was here, Dad."

"She is here. And she's very proud of you. She's proud that you kept her secret for so long. She's very proud of you. She's loves you so much, Natalina." My father said.

"I love her too, Dad. I love her too." I said. I broke away from my father and leaned against the coffin. It was still cold. I pounded the coffin once with my first and gave a short wail.

"God, why her?" I yelled at the ceiling, hoping that there was someone out there that could explain to me. "Why, out of everyone, why did you take _her_?" I leaned against the coffin and cried some more. "She wasn't supposed to leave me yet! She wasn't supposed to go! Why her? Why did you take her? _I needed her here!_" I screamed. My knees gave out and ended up sitting on the floor next to my mother. I sobbed, not caring about the people staring at me.

…

"Are you alright?" I heard someone say.

I looked up from the stone bench that was outside the funeral home. Kiku stood before me.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry I lost it in there." I said.

Kiku sat down besides me and gave me an awkward hug. "I need to leave for my home, but if you ever need anything, please call me." He gave me his card and another hug before he left for a car that was waiting for him. I got up and started to go to my own car when something attacked me from behind. It was Alfred.

"I'll see you later, m'kay?" He said, holding me in a tight hug.

I turned and faced Alfred. "I'll see you later, Alfred." I said.

"Alfred, please don't crush the lady." Arthur called, coming over to me.

"I'm not crushin' her, dude! Just chill!" Alfred said, still holding me in his hug.

Arthur pried the young man off of me. Arthur turned and gave a slight bow to me. "Good day, Natalina. I must go back to my home now." His eyes turned sad. "I'm very sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, Arthur." I turned to face Alfred. "And thank you, Alfred."

"Natalina!" Yao yelled. He attacked me with another hug. "I need to go, but please, call me or come visit." He said.

"I will." I said. The sadness of the day started to go away, just leaving an aching heart and a huge headache.

Yao took off and Arthur and Alfred followed, but not before promising to visit me sometime. I heard a cough and turned to see Gilbert. His voice was quiet for once.

"I know we really didn't get to talk in the hospital, but, in case you wanted to know." He smiled. "I'm the country of Prussia. Well, East Germany, now. But Prussia sounds cooler."

I tilted my head to the side. "Really? Wouldn't you be dead? I mean, Prussia was dissolved a long time ago." I said.

"Well, I'm still East Germany. Even thought the Berlin Wall came down and now it's just Germany, the area still claims the land that Prussia and East Germany did. I'm forever here to stay!" His chest puffed out.

I smiled. I didn't know what else to do. My heart was still hurting. Gilbert seemed to notice this.

"In my earlier years, I was known as Teutonic Knight. As in the German crusaders. So, as a religious man, I just have to say…" He trailed off and leaned down to kiss my head. "God bless you. And your mother. She'll be in my prayers." He winked. "Your mother is in the awesome one's prayers. She better get the best spot in heaven!" I smiled and gave a small laugh.

"_Bruder_! Hurry up! We need to go!" Ludwig called. He came up to me and gave me a firm handshake. "It was good seeing you, Natalina. I'm sorry for your loss. If you need anything, please call or visit." Ludwig said.

I nodded and hugged both of the men. As Ludwig and Gilbert walked away, they pulled Antonio and Francis with them. Antonio and Francis wailed for me to call the two love fools. I rolled my eyes teasingly and waved to them.

"Wah! Natalina! _Bella_! You are so sad!" Feli wailed giving me a hug. I checked my back for a sign that said "Free Hugs". Nope. Nothing.

"I'm ok, Feli. I just need some time to get over my mother. At least she's at rest, now." I said.

"I'll come visit your house! And I'll bring pasta!" Feli said.

"Sounds good." I said.

"The tomatoes are ripe this time of year, so expect a lot of those." Someone else said. I turned to see Lovino crossing his arms and leaning against my car.

"Both of you, thank you for coming." I said.

"No problem!" Feli said. "I want to comfort a friend in need!"

Lovi nodded his head to agree with his brother.

"We need to go now, but please let us know if you need anything!" Feli said. He kissed me on both cheeks and walked to his car.

Lovi strolled up to me. "My brother's a goof, but you have to love that face." Lovi said.

I nodded. Lovi gave me two gentle kisses on each cheek. "If anyone bothers you, about the chip or life in general, just let me know and I'll take care of anything you need. A person that is grieving should not worry about small stuff like the chip. I promise that it will be figured out." He said quietly.

As he turned to walk away, I grabbed his arm. "I was too preoccupied to say this to anyone, but spread the word that-" I took a deep breath. "We have a year and a half. To find Ivan and my brother. It will take that long for them to get the chip to work."

Lovino nodded. "I will tell everyone. You just need to get better."

I nodded and hugged the Italian before getting in my own car.

…

**My 20****th**** Birthday: **

"Aw, thanks, Feli!" I smiled. In the bright wrapping that I just opened, was a pasta maker.

"_Boun compleanno!_" Feli cheered.

It was my 20th birthday. I invited all of the countries to come, but I didn't think they would. I made sure that they were all comfy at my house. In a way, I guess it was me trying to pay them back for all the things they did for me. I told them not to bring presents, because I was treating them and using my birthday as an excuse, but they did anyways.

We were all sitting around my dining room table. My father was sitting next to Arthur. I blame all of my new friends for getting my father addicted to soccer. They all watch the FIFA games together.

I opened the next gift, which was from Arthur. I gasped and held up the beautiful teacup that looked like it was hand-painted. "Oh, Arthur! This is so beautiful! Where did you get this?" I asked.

Arthur smiled. "A little shop near my house. They sell all sorts of hand-made items there."

"It's wonderful!" I said.

"Open mine next! Open mine next!" Alfred yelled from across the table.

I opened the small present and held up the game. "Halo?" I said, smiling.

"Well, it's gunna get boring in your new hou-" Alfred started.

Arthur kicked him under the table. Alfred winced and said: "You're going to have to say sorry to Louisiana."

Arthur rolled his eyes and Francis urged me to open his present. I opened it up and blushed. "Th-thanks, Francis…" I mumbled.

"What is it?" Yao asked.

I blushed and said: "N-nothing!"

Antonio grabbed the bag from my hands and pulled out the article of clothing that Francis gave me. I blushed and nearly everyone gave a whistle or laughed. I grabbed the lacy garment from Antonio, who tried to hold it up to me.

"Would you all please knock it off?" Arthur said.

My father got up from the table and went over to a chart that had everyone's name on it. He removed a single mark from Arthur's name. He added one more to everyone else. My father sat back down with us.

I stuffed the clothing back into the bag and pulled out another bag. "Aw, thank you, Yao!" I said. His present was the last one and it was yet another stuffed animal. I had a collection in my room. I held the little puppy doll close to me. "It's so cute!" I said.

"Thank you!" Yao said. "And now for the last one!"

I looked around. "Did I miss someone's present?"

Ludwig coughed and handed me a manila envelope. I opened it up. I read the first few lines. I read them again. And again. I looked up.

"Do you mean…" I trailed off.

Everyone smiled. Even my father.

"I hope you like it!" Alfred said. "I found it."

"We all pitched in to buy it." Kiku said.

"All of us have access to the national banks. We all gave a little money and the house is paid off."

"You bought me a house?" I looked up at everyone.

My father smiled. "Nat, I'm going to alcohol rehab. I'm thinking of staying at the housing that they have there."

"Ivan is still on the loose." Arthur said.

"We have a feeling you're not out of the picture just yet." Gilbert said in between bites of cake.

"We want to keep you safe." Antonio said.

"So we got you a kick-ass ranch in Montana where Ivan can't find you! The name on the house title and bills is 'Holly Golightly' so Ivan can't find you."

"We are going to search for Ivan and your brother while you stay away." Lovino said.

"Dad, are you sure you're ok with this?" I asked.

"I'll be in rehab, taking care of my problems." My father said.

I smiled and a tear ran down my face.

"Is everything ok?" Alfred asked.

"I'm so happy!" I said. "This house…God! It's wonderful!"

"It also comes with a cat of your own!" Yao said.

"And a dog!" Everyone else said.

I laughed. My father would probably be in rehab for a year. He suffered a lot of withdrawals over the past few days since I came home from the hospital in Sweden. I felt so happy. 20 years old and I had my own house and my father was getting help for his problems. It was going to be a wonderful year... or so I thought.

_Fin _

…

_*****WOOT! Done! Finally! Few noties: **_

_**Note 1: I have another poll on my profile page. It's about what the plot of the sequel is going to be about. We can have a more action filled one, or a repeat of the 'love game' but with different characters. The second one is more for fangirls (just like this fanfic). **_

_**Note 2: Thank you ALL so much for the reviews! This was meant to be a break from other fanfics and a fangirl pleaser. At first, I didn't think this was one of my best works, when I had stuff like "The Babysitters", but you guys really made me feel happy when you all gave it good reviews. Thank you to you all!**_

_**Note 3: I'm going to have a new part of my profile page that states what fanfics I'm working on. I'm probably going to add a few more chapters to "Where For Art Thou, Thy Original Cast?" before I upload the sequel to "Tell Me This is a Dream". **_

_**Note 4: The sequel is going to be named (drumroll, please): "Tell Me This is a Lie"! I hope to hear from you all again soon in reviews! If you have any questions or suggestions for the sequel or any of my other fanfics, PM me and I promise I'll get back to you. I don't leave people in the dust. I want to answer questions and I'm very friendly!**_

_**Note 5 (update): livvykitty has given me an award that will be given to me in her fanfic "The Hetalia Awards"! It is like the Academy Awards for Hetalia fanfics. I am honored to have this award! :) I would love to see "The Hetalia Awards" become a great award to receive for Hetalia facfictions. Thank you to livvykitty! **_

_**Note 6 (update): For those of you wondering about Natalina's birthday letter, it will be mentioned in the sequel. **_


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